


The Grimm and The Prince

by BerylAnn



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Grimm (TV) Fusion, F/M, M/M, Police Captain Kylo, Police Dectective Rey, Supernatural Elements, fairytale gone wrong
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:47:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 23
Words: 56,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23443462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BerylAnn/pseuds/BerylAnn
Summary: Rey Kanata just becomes a detective, and suddenly everything in her life turns upside down. She got a weird mystical power which gives her the ability to see the true form of wesen, she is now a Grimm. Her long-known friend/roommate Finn is in fact a Fuchsbau, Chewbacca who lives in the woods is a Blutbad, and her foster mother who was also a Grimm just leave her a trailer full of weapons and books to figure all this out.Meanwhile, Captain Kylo Ren realizes he has got a new Grimm in his canton, and that Grimm happens to be one of his detectives...
Relationships: Finn/Rose Tico, Kylo Ren/Rey, Leia Organa/Han Solo, Poe Dameron/Armitage Hux
Comments: 44
Kudos: 76





	1. The start of everything

**Author's Note:**

> I have been rewatching the tv series _Grimm_ and just suddenly has this idea of Reylo being in a Grimm universe so here it is lol  
> English is not my mother's tongue so if there is anything not comprehensible, just let me know

Poe is clearly already drunk by now, considering he just has his third shot of tequila and the fact he is so let loosed that he stand on the table and start shouting from the top of his lung while holding his fourth shot:” To our young and brightest designated driver! _DETECTIVE_ Rey Kanata!” All the folks burst into laughter and raise their glasses to Rey. Rey can't help face palmed but also can’t stop smiling, so she raises her virgin Margarita to everyone and drinks it to bottoms up. After all, she's the one who walks into this trap voluntarily. Ah, why did she make that bet with Poe that if she passes the detective exam then she can’t drink on the celebration, but if she fails then Poe will do all the paperwork for a month. She must be too stressed at that time and was totally seduced by _no-paperwork-month_ deal thing. So now she has to stay sober through all this mess. Well on the bright side, Officer Kanata is now officially Detective Kanata. 

The pub is crowded with people, well it is a Friday night after all. Rey orders another virgin Margarita and looks around. Cops always are copping, she just can’t help but get used to checking up every spot she has been to. 

Looks quite normal, a few drunkards, some loud music and quite a lot of Buffalo wings...

Suddenly, Rey saw a guy in the corner turns into a... _wolf?_

Rey take another sip of her drink, she’s not tasting any alcohol in it and she definitively did not take any. So what the hell is this? _Delusion?_

She raises her head again and there is just some random but normal guy.

Rey shakes her head. It is probably because she is too tired. Poe and she had just finished a tough case. A girl was torn into pieces in the woods, she was last witnessed wearing a red hoodie so the tabs called the poor girl _“little red riding hood”_. And they just caught the _“big bad wolf”_ who turns out to be a local postman. As a matter of fact, the postman himself does not look wolfy or murderous, and the neighborhood he serves claimed that he is a nice gentleman. 

Well, wonder if they will still feel the same about him now since they have found that poor girl’s heart and one thigh in this gentleman’s refrigerator. 

Maybe that’s why she’s seeing a wolf. She has to stop Finn from telling her any tabloid stories.

* * *

The celebration went on pretty late tonight, and Rey has to fulfill her bet by driving her drunk ass partner home first. Damn it, Poe living in the east while Rey’s apartment is on the fucking west. At least tonight's traffic is fine, so she made it home before 12.

The apartment is dark and quiet, Finn must have gone to sleep already. Her roommate has an uptight schedule on his personal life, he wakes up in six in the morning every day, no alarm needed whatsoever, and he goes to bed at ten forty-five every single night. Just like the days he had in the army. The biological clock of this man is outstanding and sometimes Rey envied him about that. The beauty of being a police detective is that you never gonna know when the call will hit you, after all, murderers don’t really have a nine to five life.

Rey is exhausted, she barely holds on through a quick shower and then just hits the bed though her hair is still damp. She just needs some sleep, right now right here. 

* * *

She did get some sleep but not quality ones, she keeps having these weird dreams seeing people’s faces turn into animals, and some even have fangs and tried to bite her head off. When her alarm went off in 7, she feels herself like a piece of trash, bone-tired but can not go back to sleep at all. 

Luckily, she doesn’t have shifts today, otherwise, she doesn’t how to work in this shit condition.

Rey drag herself out of bed, sloppily brush teeth and wash her face, she did lather some lotion to her face but that’s all her lazy morning beauty regime is.

She goes to the dining table, and there he is, her robotic punctual roommate, having breakfast.

“Oh hell, Rey, you look like a disaster.” Finn is shocked, "I thought you lost the bet and can not drink last night? Why do you look like hungover?"

“Bad night, bad dreams, what are you having?” Rey goes for his plate, just pick a strip of bacon and throw it into her mouth.

“Jesus, can you be more sanitary? Yours is on the stove, get yourself your own plate and leave mine alone.”

“You are the best!” Rey hopped into the kitchen and pleasant by her full plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, and toasts. She just went on savage the whole plate which still amazed Finn even though they have known each other for like 5 years already.

“How can someone so slim like you can take so many foods, girl, you are eaten more than me. And I am a big eater which can make an eat-as-you-can owner withered.” Finn shakes his head, “Just how?”

“A girl gotta eat when a girl gotta eat. And this girl needs to catch bad guys at work so calories are needed.”

Finn rolled his eyes so hard he almost can't roll them back. 

The doorbell is ringing. Finn raised from his chair: "I will get it."

He opens the door and there is a tiny old lady out there. Like, she is really...tiny, only 4' 10" or maybe less?. He is not really a tall guy, just 5' 9", not short but well not really tall. Especially in the army, he was surrounded by 6 feet tall guys. And now he is civilian now, he lives together with a 5' 7" lady. So he never quite felt as having any height advantage, that is until today.

This old lady is also holding a walking stick, warping a large scarf around her head.

"Eh, hi? Who are you?" Finn frowns a little bit. He doesn't know her.

"Is Rey live in here?" The little old lady raises her head and smiles a bit, but she looks pale and week.

Finn turns back and shouted: "Rey, there is someone looking for you on the door!"

Rey stumbles to the door with a mouth full of bacon and egg. When she found out who's at the door, she almost spits all the stuff out: "Maz!"

And then there is a lot of happy shrieks and hugging, and Finn is not quite sure what just happened. He's like a lost sheep helplessly standing there all by himself.

Finally, Rey realized her roommate is still there, so she catches some breath and starts the introduction: "Maz, this is my roommate Finn. Finn, this is my mother, Maz."

"You called your mom Maz?" Finn is a little confused.

"Maz adopted me. Long story. And that story can wait until another day." Rey turns back to her foster mother and hugs her again. This lady here gives her all the love she can give and support her through all the struggles, including abandoning law school and be a police officer. "I thought you are still on your _happy-retirement-travel-all-the-world cruise_ and not coming back to state any time soon. What happened? And why are you wearing this scarf like this?"

Maz squeezes Rey's hand and looks at her daughter fondly: "Long story short, darling, I have the breast cancer. Stage four."

Rey can not believe what she heard, Maz just silently watch her. Finn did not know what to do for a sec and then decide he might just go make some calming herbal tea for these two.

* * *

Finally, everyone is seated at the sofa in the living room, Rey won’t let go of Maz’s hands and Maz just gently talks how she knew it and what she been through, all Finn can do is to make sure their cups are full.

“Sweetie, I don’t have much time to left. So I think I should tell you in person, and bring in the stuff for you.” Maz patted on Rey’s hand. The young girl has already got tears all over her face. Maz pulls out a handkerchief and gently wipe off those tears and marks. And Rey is crying even more.

"It's okay, death is a destination we all bound to go, kiddo, it's just my time's up." Maz's voice is gentle but firm like she always does. "C'mon, just take a walk with me, we can go to the trailer and check things out. Still remember that beast?" 

"Sure."Rey wipes her face with the back of her hands and just tried her best to stretch out a smile.

* * *

Rey changed up from her pajama to shirt and jeans. She is still holding Maz's hand, silently walks beside her. It is still too much to take in and she still refuses to believe all of it. Finally, she's ready to talk, but all of sudden Maz stiffen. Her eyes are wide open, and her gaze darted to some nearby bushes and whisper something like "he is here".

"Who is her-" Rey didn't get to finish the sentence, someone just jumps before her and Maz with a huge razor-sharp scythe in his hand. Rey reaches for her gun at her first instincts, but Maz just pushes her aside and pulls out a shiny long dagger from her walking stick.

Rey knows Maz is a strong woman, despite her petite body, but she never saw her fight like this. She still holding her gun but she doesn't have a clean shot and the last thing she would like is that she shot her beloved mother!

“Police!” Rey growled out the lines, “Freeze and drop the weapon!” Neither Maz or that attacker listens to her. The fight just got more intense, and Maz, who is supposed to be a weak little lady who suffered from stage four cancer, moves like lightning and stab that thing serval times.

Yes, Rey is calling that attacker a thing because she really doesn't know what the hell is this monster. It is huge, it has leathery skin and sharp, needle-like fangs, and it wears a suit.

Maz kick that thing hard, it stumbles a bit but rushes again toward her, Rey took the chance and fire her gun.

One, two, three, four, five…

At last, it stopped, and its face turns to a normal average white guy's face. 

Rey is stunned but then she hears Maz moans with pain. She runs to her and found out the scythe has slice some wounds on Maz. 

"Did you kill him?" Maz looks at Rey.

"Yes." Rey holds Maz in her arms and stumbles to get her phone out, she needs help.

Maz is not looking good, she is barely breathing: "I thought I'd lost him. They're after me." 

Her tremble fingers drag out something from her neck and give it to Rey: "Never lose this, guard it with your life, they'll be looking for it."

"I am so sorry...I should have told you earlier, you are inheriting this blood after all." Maz touch Rey's face, with a guilty look, "Your parents did not die in a car crash, they were killed..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some keywords to help understand this AU if you never watched _Grimm_ before, most of these explanations are copied from Grimm Wiki:  
> 1\. A Grimm (Ger. "wrath") is a special person who possesses incredible powers, such as being able to see the true form of Wesen even when the Wesen don't want them to. For centuries, Grimms have taken it upon themselves to police and hunt the Wesen population and to protect normal humans from the unknown threat around them.  
> 2\. Grimms possess many powers; the most commonly used one is their ability to see Wesen when they are woged, but only if the Wesen is startled, scared, angered, or stressed, or something else happens that disrupts the Wesen's concentration.  
> 3\. Wesen (VES-sin; Ger. "a being" or "creature") is a collective term used to describe the creatures visible to the Grimms. Most of them have similarities with animals.
> 
> If you are interested in more Grimm's setting, you can check out [Grimm Wiki](https://grimm.fandom.com/).


	2. Intertwined

Rey is sitting outside the operating room, she is covered in blood but none of the blood is hers, those are all Maz’s. She vaguely remembers what happened after Maz was passed out, she made the call, the ambulance was there, her colleagues were there, Poe was there as well. She went in the ambulance ride together with Maz, and they rushed her into that operation room for already 2 hours.

She is so out of herself that she did not realize there is someone sitting down next to her. He gives her a cup of hot coffee.

She takes the cup unconsciously, raises her head and realizes it is her superior, Captain Ren.

"How you doing, Kanata?" the black-haired man is tall with a strong build, even he is sitting down and yet he is still taller than Rey. As always, he is wearing a suit and coat, solemn and serious.

"Fine." Rey mumbles.

That's clearly not fine. Kylo Ren doesn’t know what to say, he took his coat off and cover it over the shoulders of his subordinate. Those bloodstains are burning his visuals.

"Take it." Kylo Ren looks at Rey, his tone is softer: " Do you need Dameron to send you home first?"

Rey shakes her head: "I want to wait for Maz."

Retreat to silence for a while, Kylo Ren nods in reply:" Alright. Tell Dameron if you need anything. Take two days off. Then don’t forget to stop by the police psychologist. It is required since this is your first shot."

Rey nods. Kylo Ren rise up, walk towards outside. Near the reception desk, Poe Dameron is making a call, he ended it when he sees Ren: "Morning, Sir."

"What we have got?" Kylo Ren furrowed.

"Victim is Rey’s foster mother, she came by her apartment this morning. They went out for a walk and got attacked. We got an ID on the attacker, fingerprints pops up a Hulda Lindon, an accountant from Boise, Idaho. And he is wanted for alleged assault, rape, and murder in more than three states." Dameron pinches the bridge of his nose, "The security camera of the location is broken a few days ago, but the CSI team said there were marks indicated serious fights, and Hulda's body is sent to the forensic."

"Good, _careful_ with this case, I will deal with the press." Kylo Ren stares into Dameron’s eyes, "the guy is not innocent for sure, and he fucking dared to harm a police officer’s family, but we must do this right, tell all the guys to be cautious on this one. And arrange two uniforms to check on Kanata’s apartment just in case."

"Roger that, sir."Dameron is about to walk away, but Ren stops him: "Get some clean clothes for Kanata, she is all covered in blood."

Dameron nods and goes for Rey, Ren watches his back, with a dark impression looming on his face.

* * *

Rey is still sitting outside the operating room, her coffee is not hot now but still warm. Dameron recognizes that large expensive coat over her shoulder at once, it must be Ren’s. The coat is large enough to cover most of her body, but still, if you are paying attention, you can see the bloodstains on her own clothes. Poe sits down right next to her, he doesn’t know what to say, so he just grabs out his phone and text Finn to bring her some clothes.

After that, he struggles for a while, chooses to tell her everything that he just reported to Ren:" We got an ID on that guy, the name is Hulda. Fingerprints come back, he is wanted in more than three states, for assaults, rape, and murder. You shot the right guy."

Rey remains silent.

"Any chance you know why he is after your mom?" Poe really doesn’t want to ask, but he has to.

Rey shakes her head: "I don’t know. Maz was a librarian, she was retired the year before last, and she went on a cruise trip to celebrate and travel the world."

A retired librarian and a vicious wanted criminal, how the hell did they connect, Poe Dameron can't even get a reasonable theory to convince himself. He wants to say something more but give up, pat on her shoulders and leave. He needs to do some follow up with other buddies on the scene.

* * *

Kylo Ren just finished the media conference, those press are like sharks that taste the blood, went wild for this big story. A brutal attack against a police officer’s family member and the suspect was shot at the scene? They are _eager_ for more, every question they threw at him is like trying to tear him down and go for the heart. He treated it like it is just a normal case, read out the script and walk out from it with a “no further comment”. 

No one in the precinct dares to talk to him after seeing his face, he _strode_ back to his office. And as soon as the door is closed, he woges in anger.

His right eye mummified, skin and tissue dries up and tears like a rag, a slid through his whole right side of the face like a scar, cracked and woos redness, like there is lava running under his skin. He growls a little, turns back to normal.

He pulls out his phone and found the number, split all his fury once the call is through "That Grimm Maz Kanata came to my canton last night and none of you noticed! And what’s more, Hulda, he woged in motherfucking broad daylight and attack her in front of one of my detectives. With a fucking **scythe**! Like he was afraid that no one will know what he is." 

"You better clean up the threads or otherwise you are all expecting a _worse_ death than Hulda’s."

He hung up the phone.

* * *

Maz has been in the operating room for almost 8 hours, and they send her straight to ICU once her surgery is finished. Rey stays outside of the doors again. Finn has dropped by and brought her some clothes and food. She changed, but not in the mood of eating, just took a few bites. She got a bag to put in the Captain’s coat, the fabric inside inevitability stained with the blood on her clothes. She will take this to dry cleaning before giving it back.

She clutched on that bag of clothes and sit outside the ICU, looking numb, and today’s attack keeps flashing back in her brain. A doctor comes up to her: "Miss Kanata?"

Rey looks up, the doctor gives her a little smile: "Mrs. Kanata is conscious now, you can go see her."

Rey walked to the room, Maz is on breathing machine and IV and stuff, she almost cried noticed all the tubes and machines surround Maz, but she holds the tear back, tries her best to smile, holds Maz’s hand while avoiding the needle in her arms.

"You have seen the real face of Hulda, right?" Maz tilted her head as looking to Rey.

Rey lowers her head, confused: "I don’t know what I have _seen_."

"You can’t see it even when you were already 18, I just assume it did not pass on to you. Normally girls will know earlier. I just didn't think it will happen to you now." Maz’s voice is light, "we have the ability to see what others can not, it is our gift and our curse. Once those creatures lost their control, we can see them in their true form."

"Creatures?" Rey is even more confused.

"To be precise, Wesen." Maz looks really calm, "and we are Grimms."

"Like the _Grimm’s Fairy Tales_?" Rey starts checking the morphine pump, how much are they giving to her?

"It is not fairy tales, they are all real, those stories are real." Maz seems to read her daughter’s mind. "You are one of the few Grimms who has the ability. Go and check out the trailer, there is everything you need to know. and the things you will need."

* * *

Rey came out from the hospital, takes a taxi to a trailer park near her apartment. That’s where they were head to when they took the walk this morning. The old trailer is easy to recognize, it is a silver round bulky vintage beast stands out among all the trailers. Maz’s clothes were packed and sent to forensics but the folk get the keys out of the pocket and gave it to her. She unlocked the trailer and fumble to get the light switch.

It is a large trailer but it is crowded with stuff, so there is no much room in it. Especially on that large table, full of stacks of leatherbacks stack. Rey picks one and carefully opens it. She remembers Maz often grabs one of these and do some copying and note-taking when she was little, Maz said it was for work.

She opens it, it was started with some foreign languages, she scrolls through and recognizes Latin, and then some German and French, with graphics showing some monster and stuff. And she stumbles to a page, the picture on this page shows exactly the looks of this morning’s monster.

"Hässlich? Has-li-ke?" Rey tries to pronounce the name written on the page but give it up after a few tries. She did study German back in high school and that did not go well with her. So she picked up Spanish in college, not really good at it as well but at least it is better than her german. Luckily the text underneath the name is written in English.

"Hässlich is an ugly creature, and their name actually means ugliness. They look like trolls from the folk story, bulky, large, have great strength, slow in motions but have unbelievable tolerance with pain and beating. It took us three to take one of these things down. We tried to go for its neck, but it won’t fall off even the blade is already dull." And the picture nearby this text has vividly recreated the scenario that was mentioned.

Rey closed the book, put it back and looks around, she opens up a large old closet, on the inside, there are a bunch of cold weapons.

She closed the closet and then opens it again.

Oh yes, her foster mother, who looks like a tiny little harmless old lady, has a freaking dangerous weapon closet. And it is not even in good old traditional American fashion, loaded with guns, rifles, and bullets. All these pieces of stuff look odd and weird, and they are like some props you will see in a period drama shooting site.

Although props will not have those _blood-thirst_ shiny blades.

Rey closed the closet, switch off the light, and walk out of the trailer. She stands there still for a while, and suddenly realize her life has changed upside down.

She slowly walks back to her apartment, it is almost 12, but the light is on, and her ought-to-be-sleeping roommate is waiting for her in the living room. Finn stands up when Rey opens the door: "You are back!"

Rey was going to reply, but she was shocked to see, for a moment there, her roommate’s face have change into something, _fox-ish_.

Finn is frozen for a while and he screamed: "YOU ARE A **GRIMM**?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Wesens are liminal, that is, they display two states of existence simultaneously within one physical body.  
> 2\. Woge (VOH-gə or VOHG; Ger. "a high, powerful wave of water" or "a large undulating mass of something") is the act of changing between human and Wesen form.


	3. In the dark

Finn screames: "YOU ARE A **GRIMM**?"

Rey shouts back: "What Are you? "

Finn is almost speechless: "You don't know what I am? "

Rey responds cluelessly: "I didn’t know I am a Grimm until today. "

So for a moment, they looked at each other awkwardly and stand in silence.

It was Finn who finally breaks the silence: "So you're a Grimm, which you never knew about, and you also don’t what a Wesen is? " He couldn't help but scratch his head, Rey shrugs. She's been drag into all this shit unwillingly. Her life was a cop show before and now it turns into some big fantasy thriller. And she hasn't forgotten what Maz told her about her parents being murdered and the thing she asked her to guard it with her life, not to mention all that shit she just saw in the old trailer. Rey is just feeling a little overwhelmed right now.

Finn seems to sense it: "When did you know yourself is a Grimm? "

Rey put down the bag of clothes she has been clenching and sits down on the couch: "Last night. "

"Last night? " Finn stuck for a while. "At the celebration party? "

"Well, I saw a man who seems to have turned into a wolf, I just thought I was tired out and hallucinating. "

"Wolf, " Finn nods. "That's a blubad "

"Blue Bart? " Rey is bewildered by the word.

"It's means werewolves, " Finn explains. "Wesen names are mostly from German and I remember there might be some comes from Latin or French. ".

"What are you? " Rey looks at Finn.

"Fuchsbau, which is also German for fox devil, " Finn says calmly.

"Then Hässlich probably comes from German as well. " Rey says, slumps on the couch.

"Wait, you met a Hässlich? " Finn is shocked. "That thing is vicious and bloodthirsty and really hard to defeat. "

"Yes, and he has a large scary scythe in his hand. I had to shoot him five times to put him down. "

"So you and your foster mother were attacked this morning by a Hässlich with a **SCYTHE**. " Finn slowly sits down beside her, "So you've been targeted by the Grimm Reapers, but you didn't become a Grimm until yesterday, how did they move that fast? "

"My foster mother is a Grimm, and she says that Hässlich came after her, " Rey says, closing her eyes and her heart wringing. "She also says my real parents were murdered. "

Finn really doesn't know what to do.

"What about Grimm? " Rey looks at Finn.

"For Wesen, it means wesen hunter. " Finn smiles awkwardly, "You know, normal people will tell their children stories like 'if you don't behave, the monster will eat you'. For wesen children, what we usually hear is 'if you don't behave, the Grimm will kill you. ' "

Rey blinks: "So a Grimm is a Wesen Hunter, and there's Wesen who is a Grimm Reaper? That _hokey-pokey_? "

Finn shrugs.

"How did you know I am a Grimm? Your appearance shifted, that’s how I know you're wesen. But how did you know I saw it? " Rey agonizes, she and Finn have known each other for five years, and has been living together for over a year, yet she's never known her best friend to be anything but normal.

Finn scratches his head again: "I woged, but it was shallow. So if you were a normal person, you wouldn't even know I've woge. But I've just seen your eyes turn black as if I were staring into an abyss, so I know you're a Grimm."

He looks at his friend and asks anxiously, "so what are you going to do now? "

Rey's shoulders slumps. "I don't know, " she murmurs.

* * *

Just after 12 o'clock, a tall man in a black overcoat walks into Maz Kanata's hospital room and stops by her bed.

Maz opens his eyes and looks at the man. "Ben. "

Kylo Ren just coldly replies, "that's _not_ my name. "

Maz sighes and says, "Kylo. "

She held out her hand and Kylo Ren takes it in his. "Aunt Maz. "

"I got you in trouble, didn't I? " Maz smiles. "I know Portland's your canton. I should have called ahead. "

Kylo didn't answer, just sits down in a nearby chair. "Rey Kanata is also a Grimm? " He askes.

Maz nods a little. Kylo Ren almost misses it.

"I was told that you had the key, " Kylo says it in a soft voice, yet his eyes are blazing with ambition.

"First Order told you, right? " Maz says. "then you already know I'm not going to tell you where the key is. "

Kylo was silent for a moment, knowing exactly every reason why she reacted the way she did.

"They're going to keep sending killers, and they're going to come after you, and they're going after Rey Kanata, " he says, as casually as if he were just talking about the weather.

"Don't you know? I have terminal breast cancer, and can be considered half-buried in the ground, " Maz says calmly about the news that her days are numbered, but there is a flash of pain in her eyes: "Kylo, she's innocent. She doesn't know anything. "

"Give me that key. "

Maz looks at Kylo Ren, she had been in the delivery room when he was born and witnessed how this boy grows from a crying baby to a young teen. How well did she know him back then, how little does she knows him now.

"You'll have to find it yourself. But I must warn you, Ben. " Maz realizes the man is uneasy by the name, still, she uses it. "Once you get the key, it's not gonna end well for you. First Order won't let you go. "

"We'll just have to wait and see, " Kylo Ren says it as he strides out of the room. Maz closes her eyes in pain.

* * *

Rey picked up some flowers on the way to the hospital, roses, carnations, and chrysanthemums, she didn't know what to get in the first place, and the florist patted his chest and told her it was the right combo to go with. So she just let him warp some out for her.

As she passes the nurses' station, she borrows a vase, takes some water, put the flowers in, and carries the vase into the ward. Maz looks a little better, smiles and waves at her: "What beautiful flowers. "

"I'm glad you like it, " Rey says, smiling as she places the flowers on a counter next to Maz's bed and sits in a chair next to it. She holds Maz's hand and asked, "How are you doing? "

"Vigorous, " Maz says, squeezing Rey's hand slightly. "Did you keep that thing I gave you safely? "

"Hmm. " Rey nods, she hid it in a gun case in her underwear drawer, she couldn't think of a better place to put it.

"Keep it hidden. There's a lot of eyes on this thing. Don't let anyone know, " Maz says.

Rey nods again.

"Have you been to the old trailer? "

"Yes, " Rey continues. "Your collection... is quite _impressive_. "

Maz couldn't help laughing at the constipation look on her adopted daughter's face, the laugh was so big that it hurts: "It scares you, doesn't it? It's been passed down from generation to generation. At the critical moments, you'll always find something in it is useful. "

"I just wish I had more time with you, to teach you to be a Grimm... " Maz's voice bitterly trails off.

Rey opens her mouth, but at this moment she doesn’t know what to answer.

* * *

Armitage Hux doesn't want to hear from Kylo Ren. Not at all.

This man is a devil, and life is best when he doesn't notice you or need you.

Unfortunately, this devil is, in a way, his boss. And his boss is very angry recently, and his boss also has something to ask him at this angry time. So this elite lawyer, who was supposed to be enjoying an amazing afternoon tea at the new fancy coffee shop recently opened in downtown, has no choice but to drive out into a desolate countryside place. Kylo Ren's SUV was already parked there when he arrived. He didn't even have time to prepare himself.

He parks the car, fells himself might just step into his death, gets out with all his bravery and walks to the driver's side door of the SUV. The window is down and reveals Kylo Ren's deadpan face: "Is Hulda taken care of? "

"Everything is clean, " Hux nods.

"Have you located the key? "

The death trap comes up, and Hux swallows, choking his neck, and replied, "... No."

"Huh. "

Hux trembles a little at the "huh" and was afraid to look up at Kylo Ren's face.

"Keep your eyes open. If there's another Grimm in town or a Grimm Reaper, I hope I'm not again the last to know. " Ren's voice is deep and rich, but each word he just said was wrapped in clear danger and threat.

"Got it, " Hux replies hurriedly.

Suddenly, there is a loud crash coming from behind, Hux turns around and see two or three punks approaching, and they are holding iron bars. "Don't you know this is a bad neighborhood? " One of the larger men shouts. "How much is it worth for you not to get hurt? "

Hux raises his eyebrows and says to Ren, "Excuse me. I'll take care of this. "

He shakes his head a bit, turning into something like a mummy, his red hair turns ash gray, his eyes glowing red, and his teeth creaking. Ignore the screams of those punks, Kylo Ren rolls up the window and drives away quietly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. A Blutbad (BLOOT-baad; Ger. Blut "blood" + Bad "bath"; pl. Blutbaden) is a wolf-like Wesen. They are incredibly fast, agile, durable, and resilient.  
> 2\. A Fuchsbau (FOOKS-bow; Ger. "fox hole" or "burrow") is a fox-like Wesen. Compared to many canid Wesen, Fuchsbaus have a mild woge. They grow long, orange fur, as well as either white or black patches all over their bodies. Their facial features remain relatively the same, save for becoming slightly more pointed. They also gain sharp canine teeth, fox-like ears, fox-like eyes, and a black, fox-like nose. Their hair stays roughly the same.  
> 3\. Grimms are tasked with policing the creature world, making sure that those who harm humans are stopped. For this reason, many Wesen mistrust or fear them.  
> 4\. A Hässlich (HAYS-likh; Ger. "ugly") is a troll-like Wesen who are generally large and bulky creatures. They seem to make up the majority of the Reapers.  
> 5\. Grimm Reapers are a society of bounty hunters dedicated to killing all Grimms. And their logo and weapon of choice is a fucking scythe.


	4. The big bad wolf

This is actually Rey's first time to meet with the Precinct Psychologist. It is actually not a full-time job title, most of these psychologists are just in collaboration with law enforcement regards OIS(Officer-Involved Shooting). So Rey now is kinda nervously sitting on the edge of this pretty nice couch.  
  
A blonde rather young round face lady sitting across, she looks nice and kind with a really heart-warming smile on her face: "Detective Kanata, can you tell me what happened?"  
  
Rey takes a deep breath: "I was walking down the street with my mum, and then the attacker jumps out from nowhere, with a scythe in his hand, like a monster." Actually, a literal monster, since this guy is actually a woged Hässlich who is also a Grimm Reaper. "I pulled out the gun and shouted freeze. But he didn't stop." Neither did Maz.  
  
"What was going on in your mind while it was happening?" The psychologist lady's voice is soft and soothing.  
  
Rey goes silents for a while, then continued: "I was shocked like I was freeze right there. And anxious, I just can't get a clear shot and I don't want to hurt Maz."  
  
"Maz is your foster mother, right?"  
  
"Yes." Rey nods a bit.  
  
"How is she?"  
  
"Fine." Well, not fine at all, since she is still in ICU recovering from the wounds silted by that mother-fucking scythe, and she is also fucking fighting stage four cancer.  
  
"The gun you are carrying is your service gun, right?" The psychologist lady switched the topic smoothly.  
  
Rey nods. Yup. It was hanging in the wardrobe so she just carries it while changing.  
  
"Any discomfort after the accident? Maybe headaches, stomach upset, nausea, weakness, fatigue or changes in appetite?"  
  
"Not really, felt tired, but nothing else." Rey shrugs.  
  
The psychologist lady nods and writes some notes down: "How is sleep?"  
  
Rey bites her lips: "Not too well." She has some nightmares and awakens frequently in the middle of the night. She just can't shake off those images.  
  
"That's normal. Many officers who had their first shot will experience the same problems. It is okay to feel vulnerable." the psychologist lady leans in, "It's not my ultimate judgment call to make, but you were with your mother who you clearly care and love, your protective instinct just kicked in. To me, it sounds like you did what you had to do."  
  
"Thank you..."Rey actually did not expect she will say these.  
  
The psychologist lady simply nods and smiles: "Well this is still an informal fitness-for-duty evaluation, and I will suggest you continue to take a few more days off. I will schedule one more consulting with you in the following week."  
  
Rey is a little bit disappointed, she actually quite misses working. It kept her busy and can stop her from thinking too much.  
  
Still, she can only take the orders and walked out of the consulting room, she wanders her way off and sees Poe running out.  
  
"What happened?" Rey stops him and asks.  
  
"A little girl went missing. Never make it to her grandpa's house, which she should have been there two hours ago, parents just called in."  
  
"I am coming with you." Rey hops in the car.  
  
When they arrived, the press is already surrounding the house. Paige Tico see and wave at the boys to let them in, she comes down the stairs: "Hi Rey, I thought you should be at leave now?"  
  
"Just come by and see if I can help," Rey replied.  
  
"Robin Howell, 9 years old, she was going to her grandpa's house, parents thought she has already arrived but the grandpa called them and asked if his sweet grand-daughter hasn't come yet. This is a recent picture. The mother said she was wearing a red hoodie." Page hands them the picture.  
  
"Red hoodie?" Rey looks to Poe, Poe shrugs: "Could be coincident."  
  
"The mom says she was supposed to go around the park," Paige points to the park nearby, "the grandfather's house is on the other side of the park."  
  
"No kid will have gone all the way around the park, uh oh, just no." Poe talks to Rey as they walk to the park, "Let's go through and check it out."  
  
Rey nods and she calls over some officers to help, they took the path inside the woods, spread out and scam around carefully.  
  
"Found something!" Poe calls Rey over, under the tree, there is a pink backpack. Rey spots some boot prints nearby, she follows them out the other side of the forest while Poe is calling it in. There is a small house across the street, a large man just walks out to get his mails. Rey looks to his feet immediately, but no, the feet are clearly much larger than the prints she found. She shakes her head, going to head back. Some kids just ride by that man on bikes and making loud noise with their bike rings, and Rey sees that man morphs into a wolf-like creature.  
  
Wolf. Blutbad.  
  
Little red riding hood. Missing girl in a red hoodie.  
  
Rey almost got a hunch to just get the man down, then she realizes she can't. She is a police officer, she can't just barge in with the assumption that she just saw a big guy woged.  
  
Poe calls for her in the back, she turns back and walks to him, CSI team got the backpack, and from the name on the coloring books inside, it is Robin Howell's.  
  
"A guy is living across there, maybe we should ask him if he has seen Robin?" Rey turns to Poe.  
  
"Right, I will tell Paige to do it. Captain just come over, he wants to see us." Rey follows Poe and walks to Kylo Ren.  
  
"Kanata, you are supposed to be off-duty," Ren frowns, "Dr. Connix just informed me."  
  
Dame that psychologist lady acts too fast. Rey bites her lips and tries: "I think I am okay, and I want to help..."  
  
"Go home, it is not negotiable." Ren gives out his final order and gives Poe a look.  
  
"Sir, in the Sylvie Oster case, I mentioned there were probably two suspects since there were two sets of boot prints on the scene. And Errol Ditmarsch's matched one of the two sets. He lives on his own. So we just assume the other set was left by some hikers. But I just saw some boot prints out there around Robin Howell's backpack." Rey stops Ren, Sylvie Oster is the poor victim who has been called by the tabs as little red riding hood, "What if I was right? And his accomplice is still out there? This missing girl was also wearing a red hoodie."  
  
Kylo Ren stops his steps, and his brows just locked together: "Then let's hope you are not. And still, you are off-duty now. Dameron, you follow up on this."

  


* * *

  


> The wolf thought to himself, what a tender young creature. What a nice plump mouthful.  
>  _Little Red Riding Hood_ , The Brothers Grimm,1812

  
This old lady takes out the sack from the back seat of her car. It seems there is something inside the sack, squinting and crying. She carries the sack to her shoulder like it is nothing at all. She is humming when she walks into her house, and the mud on her boots stained the wooden floor. She placed the sack right next to her couch, move the tiny table and lifted the carpet under it. A trap door shows up, its brass ring looks a bit dull. She pulled the door open, once again carries up the sack and walks down the stairs behind that trap door.  
  
She walks in a cellar, it is all covered in the wood just like the house above. There is a large bed right in the middle of the cellar. The old lady puts the sack down and pours out a little girl from it. The girl is wearing a red hoodie.  
  
"Don't be afraid. " The old Lady looks down at the little girl, smiling kindly. "What do you say we hang this up? " She said, reaching for the girl's red hoodie. The little girl is frightened, she took it off and give it to the old lady. She bends her legs to her knee, scared and trembling.  
  
"I want to go home, " she sobbed.  
  
"You're home already. " The old lady takes the hoodie to the closet at the end of the bed. She opened the closet door and there were four other red hoodies hanging in the closet, she hangs the girl’s hoodie inside, touches it with a satisfying smirk, and closed the door.  
  


* * *

  


Rey was carried out by Poe from the scene. She couldn't be grumpier but she has to leave. Paige asked one of the officers to drive her away, and she asked him to take her to the hospital.  
  
She enters Maz's room in a sullen mood and surprised to see the big man she had seen earlier in the day sitting by Maz’s bed, laughing and talking. Rey can help but gape.  
  
Grimm. The Wesen Hunter.  
  
Blutbad. The big bad wolf of Wesen.  
  
And they are sitting under the same roof, talking and laughing.  
  
It's a lot to take in.  
  
"Rey, " Maz waves at her, "it's an old friend, Chewbacca. "  
  
"Hello? " Rey walked over and holds out her hand. Chewbacca nods and they shake hands.  
  
"I saw you this morning, " Rey snapped. "while I was there processing the scene. Did you know there was a little girl missing near your house? Or did you see her? She was wearing a red hoodie when she went missing. "  
"Red, " Chewbacca grunted when he heard the word.  
  
"There's no way Chewbacca could have done this, " Maz said, frowning. "He's a reformed Blutbad who's been a vegetarian all this way for 20 years. "  
  
"One question, is Blutbad cannibal? " Rey frowned and looked at Maz.  
  
"Now? Hardly heard of, " said Maz, looking at her worriedly. "Why the sudden question? "  
  
"I think the suspect from a cannibalism case I was working on previously has an accomplice out there and that accomplice took the little girl, " Rey said, looking over her shoulder at Chewbacca, "I know it's presumptuous, but can you help me find the little girl? "  
  
As Chewbacca returned to the scene with Rey, the two slipped across the cordon to where Robin Howell's backpack was found this morning. Chewbacca crouches down, grabs a handful of dirt and sniffles.  
  
"Are you smelling it? " Rey is a little surprised.  
  
"Little girl, and blutbad. " Chewbacca nods and gives a very succinct answer. Then he starts to stride, and Rey catches up.  
  
Chewbacca is a really tall guy. How tall is he, Rey is not sure, but he looks even taller than her Captain. For a moment, Rey felt like her arms and legs just aren’t long enough, and she could barely keep upon him.  
Finally, he stops and points ahead. Rey sees a cabin.  
  
"I can't go over there. It's her territory. " The tall man said to her and motioned to himself to leave. Rey nods, not like that she will actually get civilians to handle the police issue for her. She watches Chewbacca leave, pulls out her phone and calls Poe.  
Poe arrived quickly, and as he approached, he grabbed Rey and said, "are you sure you saw boot prints? "  
  
"It's right in front of the house. It looks a lot like what we had on the scene. Captain wouldn't let me follow up, so I had to call you in. " Rey made up an excuse.  
  
Poe scratched his head. "Captain just wants what's best for you. What now? It's not like we can search it without a warrant. "  
  
"So knock on the door and ask if the owner will cooperate and also let me use the bathroom? " Rey shrugs.  
  
Poe muses for a while, pucker his lips and shakes his head a bit. "All right. "  
  
Rey and Poe were both a little startled as they looked at the old lady who opened the door. The old Lady was kind enough to let them in, and Rey excused herself to go to the bathroom, and she found nothing. She comes out, walks past the kitchen, and while Poe's still schmoozing the old lady, she gets an idea, opens the fridge.  
  
The inside of the fridge looks tidy and normal, and some of the tupperwares inside look like it contains some marinated slices of meat... There's a box that looks exactly like the one they found in Errol Ditmarsch’s fridge, the shape of the meat and the choice of ingredients are all the same. Rey closes the refrigerator door, turns around and draws her gun out. "Poe, it's her. "  
  
Poe pulls out his gun, too, and the old lady shifts right at the moment. Rey witnesses that harmless old lady turns into a Wolf Grandma. She slams into Poe and then pounces on Rey. Rey shoots her point-blank, and the old lady falls to the ground.  
"How do you know? " Poe looks up at Rey.  
  
"Ditmarsch's tupperware of human cutlets, remember? She's got one just like it.” Rey lowers her gun slowly, Poe possibly did not have seen anything, otherwise, he wouldn't be so calm right now.  
  
"Holy Shit, " Poe curses sharply. "That kid's gotta be in the house. "  
  
They put away their guns and begin to look for the girl, but neither of them found anything. Back to the living room, Rey notices that the old woman's blood seemed to be seeping into something. She looks around and sees the blood stop on the carpet where the coffee table lay. She pushes them apart tentatively, and a trap door shows up at the bottom.  
  
"HERE! " Rey hurriedly opened the door and walked into the cellar. Robin Howell was there, sitting on the bed, crying her little face off.  
  
"It's okay. You're safe. I'm a cop, " Rey says, walking over to the girl and picks her up carefully. Scared at first, the little girl eventually wails in Rey's arms.  
  
The staffs soon arrive on the scene, and Rey carries the child out, her parents are there, whom she carefully hands back their daughter.  
  
"Are you all right? " Paige looked at her thoughtfully from behind.  
  
"Actually, I'm pretty fine, " Rey says, smiling as she watches the family reunion. "Can I go first? I want to see my mom. "  
  
"No problem, we will let you know if we need your statement. " Paige smiles, too, and summons an officer to take her to the hospital.  
  
Rey walks into the hospital with full of hope, she knew what to do now, being a Grimm will not affect her to become a detective, actually, it can even help her do better...  
  
She just walked into Maz's room, only to find it crowded with people. She tries to get in, but was stopped by a nurse. "sorry, they're rescuing the patient. " She was pushed out from it, standing in the hallway helplessly, not knowing what to do.  
  
Not sure after how long, a doctor came over to her: "I am sorry for your loss. "  
  
Rey just thinks everything in her life falls apart.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The part where Rey talks with the psychologist is heavily based on _Officer-Involved Shooting: Reaction Patterns, Response Protocols, and Psychological Intervention Strategies_ by Laurence Miller. Really a good read and some great insights on Officer-Involved Shooting.


	5. Beeware

Maz’s funeral was held on a sunny day.

The flowers used at the funeral are roses, carnations, and chrysanthemums, just like that bouquet Rey bought to Maz a few days ago. Those ones are probably withered and dead already and get throw away into the trash.

The summer in Portland is hot and dry, and everything in the air is hinting its coming, even people are now changing into lighter clothing. And yet Rey feels cold, she stands in front of the new grave, dresses in a long sleeve black dress, and feels bone-chilled in the middle of the day.

Her parents left her with Maz before they hit the road, said that they are going to revive their honeymoon and also said they will send her postcards. She never received the postcards they promised, what she got is the news of their death. The police just dropped in, said things like “sorry for your loss” and “your parents died in a car crash”.

Maz struggled with social service and finally able to adopt her. The day when the adoption paper came, they hugged each other and had a huge cry.

And now, she is an orphan, again.

Rey did not how she got herself back to the apartment. She walks into her room, sits quietly on the edge of her bed, and do nothing. Slowly she curls into a ball, traps all those uncried tears and wails into her pillows.  


* * *

  
Kylo Ren is sitting in his own office, there is a report laying in his desk, it is a detailed background check of Rey Kanata. This one is for sure not the simple induction one conducted by the police department. He got someone to conduct this one. He did know Rey Kanata is related to Maz Kanata when he had her under his command, it is listed right there in her resume, and also Kanata is not really a common surname. However, he did never think that Rey Kanata will turn into a Grimm. First of all, from his personal knowledge, Grimm’s ability also passes down within their bloodlines, and Rey Kanata is adopted. Secondly, she is already 27. The awakening of Grimm is similar to the human puberty, girls tend to mature earlier than boys. Maz told him that she saw her first woge when she is barely 12.

As a police detective, she is for sure young and accomplished. But as a Grimm, one can say she is really late to bloom.

He has got all the details far back to the day she was adopted by Maz, but not her life before her parent’s death. What’s weird is that her parents’ case has been locked and sealed, and if he does not want to cause any attention or use his Captain status, it is almost impossible to get it out.

Ren has a hunch this must have something to do with the Royals.

Otherwise, how could a simple car accident has been classified and concealed as top secret and he tries so hard yet still not able to know the original surname of Rey Kanata. 

Ren looks out from his office window, Kanata’s seat is empty. 

Does she have the key?

What kind of a Grimm will she be?

...will she yield to him?

Kylo Ren lost in his thoughts, and an almost invisible glare flicked through his eyes.  


* * *

  


> From their home they fly now here, now there, feeding on honey-comb and bringing all things to pass. And when they are inspired through eating yellow honey, they are willing to speak truth; but if they are deprived of the gods' sweet food, then they speak falsely, as they swarm in and out together.  
>  _Homeric Hymn 4 to Hermes (trans. Evelyn-White)_

The man filled the water into the lung then press everything out, again and again, then he kneads the lung repeatedly with some starch. After he is sure he has got the whole thing clean, he beat the lung into a paste-like pulp with a meat grinder. 

The oil in the saucepan is sizzling, he puts in some chopped onion, and then the seasoned pulp, heat it tills it is half-done. The oven behind is already preheated, and the pie crust has been laid in the mold. He pours in the cooked meat into the mold, and cover the top with another piece of crust.

The meat pie is now inside the oven, the man stares at it and mouthing some words nervously.

Pie is ready, it has a golden crust and a tangy smell. The man rushes it to the table. At the head of the table sits a middle-aged woman, with some grey hairs at her temple, she cut a bite of the pie and carefully put it into her mouth.

All of sudden, her pupils are wide open, her cheeks flush, her teeth grinding, and her body can’s stop trembling.

“I see...” She closed her eyes when she opens them again, both eyes are flooded with redness, “something is coming, something bad, THAT GRIMM, we need to warn her, we need to fulfill our destiny.”  


* * *

  
Once Rey sits her ass down, Poe looks at her with worried eyes: “Why are you back to work already? Captain did give you days off, right? And the shrink lady did say you need to do the evaluation again?”

“The fitness-for-duty evaluation is done, apparently I am stress-resilient, may have minor emotional breakdowns but fit for work already and she suggests I take it easy and starts with something simple.” Rey looks at Poe, “Captain already knows about it, besides, work is more helpful to give me peace of mind.” 

Poe tries to comment on it but he gives up, he reaches out and pats her on the shoulder. 

“Hello, Rey, glad you are back. Guess someone just miss the call of homicide in the morning, right?” Paige walks by, and drops a stack of files to their desk, “Greetings from cold case unit, Captain said this is all yours.”

“Cold case? Why suddenly drops this to our homicide unit?” Poe frowns and looks at Paige confused. 

“Because we have a new body of a John Doe today, apparently his death looks exactly alike a cold case victim 10 years ago.” Paige flip opens the top file, there is an autopsy report, “throat slashed, lungs removed. ”

Poe and Rey share a look with each other.

Rey takes the file and starts reading: “The report said other organs are still intact and untouched. And judging by the wound, the lung is taken right after the death. The extraction is clean and whoever done this might have surgical experience.” 

“Organ poaching?” Poe has a bit headache thinking about this, “then why leave the other organs, cornea, heart, and kidney are quite popular on the black market, right?” 

“That, I will leave it to the two of you to figure it out.” Paige shrugs and leaves.

Rey flips through the report, looks to Poe: “how about we go to the crime scene, maybe we will get more clues from there.” 

Poe nods and the two strides out of the precinct.  


* * *

  
The body was found in a suburb, a very lovely place with great views. The woman who found the body lives nearby, she was going out for a run with her German Shepard. They were running on the path, but suddenly the dog ran off. By the time she found her dog, this talented cadaver-dog-should-be have already dig half the shallow grave out.

Rey ride with Poe, when they arrive at the scene, the CSI team is doing the final round-up, they have checked the woods, did not find any visible blood splatter. 

“So it is just a dumpsite, the killing and the extraction happened elsewhere.” Poe checks out the now totally dig up shallow grave, “this is actually dug pretty deep, if the dog did not found this place, it could have been ages before people realize.”

“This place is rarely visited by people, no surveillance cameras or any sort of these things, and a pretty deep-dug grave.” Rey squats down and checks the soil, “whoever dumps the body clearly knows what they were doing.” 

“Well-thought, well-planned, but why do this again after a decade?” Poe lost in his thoughts, and Rey looks into the hole and dazes. Maz’s grave is a lot deeper than this...

Shake off those thoughts, she slowly rises up: “Maybe we should check the perimeter, not many people live here, but still maybe someone saw something.” 

Poe and Rey walk out of the woods and down the road to a nearby neighborhood, the houses here are mostly some old houses that had been built by the locals, not like those well-arranged square like suburban neighborhood that realtors build-up for the middle class.

"Do you hear the buzzing of bees? " Rey looks around, and Poe suspicious. She takes a few steps forward and realizes she was listening correctly. In front of them stands several beehives, from which the sound of the bees came.

Poe said with disgust on his face, "why would anyone raise such dangerous creatures here? "

"So your usual murderers and looters are tamer than these bees? " Rey looked back at her partner, almost about to laugh.

Poe pats himself on the waist. "I got a gun. Those bastards can't handle it. But those stings, nah."

Rey is about to reach out to Poe and hurry him over when suddenly a bee lands in her hand.

"HOLD STILL! " Poe tense up. "that thing stings like a bitch. "

Rey is about to say something when a middle-aged man in full beekeeping gear walked up and slowly scoops the bee away: "She likes you. "

The beekeeper carefully places the bee back in one of the hives, then turns to Rey and Poe: "That's a Queen Bee. She doesn't leave the nest easily. Who Are you? "

"Portland P.D. This is my partner, Detective Dameron. I'm Detective Kanata. " Rey flashes her badge. “And you are?” 

“Elliot Spinella.”

“Mr. Spinella...” Rey just starts, the beekeeper corrects her: “Actually, Professor Spinella.” 

"Professor, we're here to canvass the neighborhood, see if any of the residents can shed some light on a case we're working on. "Rey smiles and continues.

Poe steps forward, handing over a photo of John Doe's head in close-up. "Have you seen this man? "  
The beekeeper professor takes off his helmet, squints at the photo and shakes his head. "Never seen this guy."

"Has anything out of the ordinary happened recently? " Rey asks.

"No, everything's fine. " The beekeeper shakes his head.

Poe puts the photo away, says “thank you”, and motions Rey to follow him. Rey barely walks two steps, can shakes off the feeling like someone is watching her. She turned to the beekeeper who is tending the hive and definitely not looking at her. Rey thinks she is just being paranoid, turns around, catches up with Poe.

In the house behind the beehives, a woman hides behind the curtains and murmurs to herself: "It's her, it's the GRIMM. "  


* * *

  
Armitage Hux doesn't want to hear from Kylo Ren any more than he wants to call Kylo Ren.

But he knows he has to make the call, otherwise, if the news didn't get out in time, his boss might come and strangle him himself.

"Hello? " Hux called, weighing his words, "there is a rumor in the town the Mellifer has been given a new prophecy about the new Grimm. "

Kylo Ren is silent for a moment, then quickly replies, "get me the details of the prophecy, and keep an eye on the Mellischwuler. "

"Got it, " Hux nods subconsciously, even though the person on the other end of the line couldn't see it.

Kylo Ren hangs up the phone and looks out from his office window. Rey Kanata is back at work now. Suddenly he remembered that case he had given it to her and Dameron this morning, and he feels a little contrite.

If a Mellischwuler consumed human lungs, she may enhance honey production and experience visions. 

Ren mutters a curse, snaps the fountain pen in his hand to two and ink spatters all over his desk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. A Mellifer (MEL-ə-fər; Lat. mellis "honey" + ferre "to bear") is a bee-like Wesen. Mellifers are a communal race who live in small groups ruled by the Mellischwuler(the queen bee of Mellifer) with the others acting as her "worker bees." In the Wesen society, they fulfill the role of clarions, sending warning calls within the creature world.  
> 2\. About that lung preparation part, I can's stop thinking about Hannibal Lector when I was writing it.  
> 3\. And when I was researching for the meat pie recipe, I found out that all kinds of animal lungs are forbidden to sell in the US because the modern slaughterhouse is just not an environment that can ensure a lung is removed in a clean and uncontaminated manner and lungs are really difficult to clean. If you want a lung, you’ll have to carefully pull it out of the animal yourself. (Resources: [COOKING LUNGS: NOSE TO TAIL EATING](https://practicalselfreliance.com/cooking-lungs/)）


	6. The prophecy hive

It was an overnight after another overnight, Rey has already lost count on how many cups of coffee they have consumed, and Poe already gave up showering, he is marinated in Axe Spray right now.

Though frustrated, both of them can’t help but think that this case might just end up going back to the cold case unit. 

The fingerprints are not in any database. This John Doe does not fit any recent missing people. No tattoos, no wallet, no pacemaker, no artificial joints... Just nothing. This John Doe is an _ultimate_ John Doe in this bloody data-explosive time.

And the CSI team did not have much feedbacks, no shoe prints on the scene, no murder weapons have been found. And there were some rainy days before the body was found, and that’s probably why the dog can find the body in the first place.

And they have no clues on who the killer is. Yeah yeah yeah they know the killer should be someone with surgical experience. You think that might narrow down the suspect pool. **NAH**. There are over hundreds of surgeons here in Portland and the medical students are not count in yet. Since the killer’s sole purpose is just to harvest lung, there is no stitching or tending to the wounds whatsoever, so even fewer clues to pin down who has done this.

Due to the fact they have disgusted too many colleagues, Captain Ren evicted them home and tell them don’t even tempt to come back without getting a proper shower.

Rey stumbles back to her apartment, Finn is not home probably at his herbal shop working. She gets a quick shower and just dives in her bed, and thank god she did get some proper sleep before Paige calls her up.

“Have you shower and sleep? Good, then you are good to come, meet us here at N Weidler & Ross, you know the railway station?” 

Rey jumps up, grab some clean clothes out of her closet while cradling her phone between the cheek and the shoulder: “On my way. What happened?”

Paige turns back and takes another glance to the body lying on the streetcar: “Let’s just say, flash mob gone wrong?” 

The whole station has been secured and Poe is already, Paige leads them to the streetcar and starts reporting: “Victim’s name is Jul Jerjerrod, lives in Peral, get in the streetcar this morning, probably going to work. when the streetcar is crossing the bridge, some passengers start dancing to Y.M.C.A, after the flash mob all leaves at the station here, the driver founds her dead body lying on the ground. ”

Paige gives them an ID card, it is the victim’s, on the picture is a nice looking dark haired lady in her early 30s.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you. But that’s what she looks like when she was alive.” 

Rey squats down, slowly unveils the body and understands why Paige used a but.

The body is an abhorrence, the victim’s whole body is swollen and covered in a rash, those pretty eyes now look like dead fish’s eyes, they pop out in the puffy eye socket. If they haven’t seen the ID before, no one will believe this is her.

“A newbie said this looks like some extreme allergic reaction, so could have been just an accident?” Paige chirps.

“We will need her medical record to prove that. But what kind of allergic can be that server?” Poe waves his hand mapping the body. “I have seen people got the face blood red and swelled up because they have eaten peanuts or other kinds of stuff.” 

“Wasp maybe? I heard a dog got stung in the nearby park and one of its feet is now two times bigger than his rest.” Paige guessed along.

“10 bucks say it is bad breakfast.” Poe insists.

“10 bucks for killer insects.” Paige waives in.

“10 bucks for homicide.” Rey chirps in, she had got her gloves on now, “ and you two better pay up now.”

Those two leans and sees a large puncture wound behind the ear Rey just flip up.

“Damnit.” Poe is struck, “what can do that? A needle?”

“More like a nail.” Paige raises her eyebrows.

“We need to get the body to M.E., might need to see if we can get a mold for the murder weapon used in this scenario.” Rey comments.

Paige gets her villain smile on: “Lucky you. I know a gal just perfect for the job, and Poe knows her too.” She turns to Poe with a gloating look: “Bet your gal is wearing something sexy~”

  


* * *

  
Zorii Bliss is in her _not-so-sexy_ gown and cloak right down, she just gets out of her protective gears: “Cause of death: Anaphylaxis shock, Mode: Apitoxin.”

“Bee venom?” Rey checks out the report, surprised by what she heard.”

“10 points for Gryffindor!” Zorii gives her a praised look, “Phylum Arthropoda. Class Insecta. I have sent an example to a local apiarist to help identify the type of apitoxin.”

“So what caused the wound? That does not look like a bee sting wound?”Rey frowned.

Zorii curls her lips: “Guess someone is going for extra credits? Good. You are right, it is not a bee sting wound.” She puts on a new pair of gloves, steps to the just dissected body and flips out the wound behind the ear: “This is a puncture wound for sure, I tried to create a mound from it, the shape has a vague resemblance with a syringe, but I never have seen a gauge that big.”

“Also, I found out there are at least 50 milligrams of apitoxin in her body.” Zorii looks up, realize neither her new favorite Gryffindor or her ex-boyfriend gets what that number means, she sighs and explains it: “A single bee sting carries about 0.1-milligram apitoxin.”

“There will be at least 500 bee stings,” Rey mumbles.

“Or a bee in the size of Lebron James.” Poe pitches in.

“More like the big three combined.” Zorii comments.

Rey closed the report, deducts: “So our vic here, Jul Jerjerrod, got in a streetcar, suddenly the people around her erupts in spontaneous dance to Y.M.C.A.”

“And our killer seizes the chance to inject a large dose of bee venom to the victim. And Y.M.C.A turns into young maiden caught allergy.” Poe catches up.

“Weird but possible, guess we did get a solid homicide. We should go check out with the apiarist and asked how someone can gain that much of apitoxin. Thank you, Zorii. Drinks on me.” Rey waves goodbye to the M.E.

“Glad to help. At least I know you mean it and you won’t bail on me like some stupid ass dude.” Zorill smiles to Rey, not even raise her eyes to Poe.

Rey looks around these two people, decides that she is not going to involve in this drama, and quickly drags Poe out of the M.E’s office.

  


* * *

  
“Elliot Spinella?” Poe frowns at the name, “why does this apiarist’s name sound so familiar.”

“Remember that professor? Breeding bees in the suburb? Near that John Doe dump site?” Rey checks the address, “Yup, that’s the guy.”

They share a look, silently agree to go to that little bee farm again, Captain Ren catches them and he looks extremely stressful: “Dameron, Kanata, you guys sure this is not an accident right?”

“Nope, sir, it will need 500 bees to commit such accidents and puncture wound is for sure man-made,” Rey reports.

Ren pitched the bridge of his nose: “I want you two to focus on this streetcar murder from now on, everything else can be put aside. We don’t want the citizens to scare to use public transportation. Besides, the victim was a lawyer, worked for Law firm of Pryde, Sloane, Hux, and Associates. Their head, Enric Pryde, just got off the phone with me. And he is pissed. Plus her husband is also an employee of that law firm, so swing to their office and see what you can get.” 

“Roger.” Rey and Poe answers in unison.

They walk out of the precinct, Poe is driving and Rey calls the shotgun. She asked: “So where should we go now? The bee professor or the swank law firm.”

“Guess we should go to the law firm first. Since our vic was married, her husband is probably the one who did it. Even if it is not him, co-worker turns murderer is not that rare. And even if we rule out all her colleagues. Well, she is a lawyer, and you won’t believe how many lawyers died in the hands of an unsatisfied client or the people they sued.”Poe brabbling as he starts the engine.

Rey pulls the seat belt and nods: “Well, lucky me who choose not going to law school.”

When they meet the managing partner who called Captain Ren, they understand why he pitched his nose that hard. Enric Pryde is a sly motherfucker, goes around and around with nice words, but refuses to give up any useful info when Poe pressures for the cases that the victim worked on previously, he reluctantly says he will send them to the precinct. The colleagues of her all just say something like she was a nice lady, really focus on her job, gentle and caring, can’t think of anyone who will likely to harm her. All praises, no help to the case solving.

And then, they face the devastated husband. He is currently in a phrase that blames everything on himself because he has been working late so he doesn’t have to drive his beloved wife to work and hence why she is dead on the streetcar this morning. He is so tormented and Rey scares that he might cry himself to death.

When he finally calms down a bit, Poe asks him: “Does your wife have any allergies?”

“Not that I know of.” Jax Jerjerrod sobbing, “She is...” he chokes a bit, “she was so healthy...Why you asked?”

Rey weighs her words carefully but did not really find any more subtle ways to tell: “Your wife is dead due to Anaphylaxis shock cause by apitoxin.”

“Apitoxin...” Jax Jerjerrod lowers down his head, Rey’s pupils wide open when she saw this wailing man’s face turns like a corpse, she switches her eyes to side don’t want her Grimm-ness gets notice, “No, I don’t know, she doesn’t like bees but I never heard that she got an allergy to apitoxin.”

“Thank you for your cooperation, this is my card, we will stay in touch.” Poe hands in his name card and gesture Rey to leave with him. Rey nods and silently follows. 

Jax Jerjerrod must be hiding something, she thinks to herself, but what is he?

  


* * *

  
They go to the apiarist afterward, this time, they are welcomed into the house and get served with iced honey tea.

“The honey is harvested by myself, sweet and pure.” Elliot Spinella smiles at them and gestures them to try the tea.

“Thank you, Professor, it’s very nice of you.” Rey smiles, takes a sip in, it is quite nice, she can taste how fresh the green tea is, and the slight hint of mint and lemon juice, and then there is the honey, sweet and pure like the host said.

Rey is a little struck by her thoughts, she likes food, that’s for sure, but she’s no gourmet. _Where the hell did she get so many comments on this tea?_ And Poe who sits beside her just guzzled and asking for a refill.

“So, um, the apitoxin, did you get a result on it?” Rey asks, put the glass down.

“Oh yeah, indeed I did, the apitoxin you sent is not synthetic, that’s what I am sure.” Professor Spinella pushes up his glasses.

Poe almost choked: “So someone harvested 50 milligrams of bee venom from actual bees? How?”

“Not quite sure, my interest is mostly involved with honey production, not apitoxin extraction. According to the samples, the apitoxin used was refined as well. That will require some laboratory grades machine.” Professor Spinella stands up, “let me get you the full report, it is in my study.” 

“Can I have one more?” Poe raises his glass, Rey strikes him with her elbow. Professor Spinella smiles: “It is okay, detective, help yourself, there is a whole jar of tea in my refrigerator.” He even points out the direction for Poe. 

Poe smirks, and before Rey strikes him again for his bold cheekiness, he skips to the way towards the kitchen. 

A woman walks out silently, smile fondly toward Rey: “Hi.”

Rey stands up and reaches out for a handshake, she thinks this might be Professor Spinella’s wife: “Hi, sorry to bother you.”

“No big deal.” The woman is in her 40s, some grey hairs on her temples, but still dignified and attractive, “So you are the GRIMM.”

Rey is shooked, her first instinct is to reach for her guns, but the woman stops her: “That’s no need, I come in peace, and I am here to send a message.”

“What message?” Rey’s hand is still on the gun, she stares into the women’s eyes.

“There will be a new Grimm at the town, and she will be the protector and preserver, she will lead us into the light. But beware of the bastard, the diluted prince, for he is a snake snarl from the dark past. Beware, he is after you.” The woman’s voice is so low that she is almost whispering. 

Rey wants to ask who is the “he” that she mentioned, but the woman just turns around and leave, Rey jumps across the table and tries to the woman but fails.

She just disappears like she was never there before.

“Here is the report, detectives.” Professor Spinella walking out with some paper on his hands, “I couldn’t identify the origin of the apitoxin but still hope it can provide some insights for you.”

“Thank you.” Rey acts like there was nothing happens, takes the papers. “Poe, we should go!”

Rey remains silent the whole ride, even Poe can sense something wrong.

“What happened?” Poe shoots a glance to Rey out of the corner of his eyes.

“Nothing.” Rey fake a smile, “Can you drive me home, I need to grab something.”

“Sure. But let’s just call it a day, you look exhausted, mate.” Poe spins the wheel, “Just take some sleep.”

  


* * *

  
Poe drops Rey at her apartment’s building, she waves goodbye to Poe then walks into the lobby. Once she confirms Poe is gone, she went out and walks to the trailer park. She needs some answers, and she knows a place where she can probably find some.

Rey inserts the key to the old trailer’s door, she took a deep breath before she turns the key and opens it. There is dust, inevitably, since she did not come here after Maz’s funeral.

She sits down on the bed across the big table and looking through those leather backs. She knows there are pics in there so she just scamming through, try to find the wesen she saw this morning. That corpse-like figure... 

Bingo. Hexenbiest. The pic shows a flesh-decaying corpse-like woman there, but yeah Jax Jerjerrod did woged into something like this.

Rey starts reading: “Hexenbiest. When they woge, they are a witch-like creature that somewhat resembles a demon or goblin. Which is shocking, contracts to their extraordinary beauty in human form. They are highly intelligent and cunning and treacherous and manipulative. Yet they are the most loyal hounds among whom work at the behest of royalty.”

“Royalty?” Rey stops at the word, she did remember that woman talks about a prince. To be specified, a diluted prince. Which sounds just so odd.

She keeps reading, flips the page and sees a pic shows a served tongue, on the tongue, there is a scar or mark that looks like a crescent moon. The side notes said: “A Hexenbiest mark can be found under the tongue in both human and woged forms. This is undeniable proof of their bloodline.”

And then on the next page, Rey notices something: “The Mellifer seems to be the only natural predator of the Hexenbiest. A Mellifer attacks the Hexenbiest using a potent apitoxin, which kills the Hexenbiest instantly.”

Apitoxin. Damn, she just hit the gold.

She starts searching the word Mellifer, and it is quite a hassle since her ancestors did not realize the importance of having an index! Rey has to go through five books before she finds the page she is looking for.

“A bee-like creature that exists typically as part of a swarm, and in groups they operate with a ‘hive mentality.’”Rey checks out the description, on the pic drawn on this page is a creature with large compound eyes, its mouths sprout external articulated mandibles, and there is a pair of antennae appear on its foreheads. It looks just like a large size weird bee. “Live in man-made life-size "hives" they build in the attics of houses, where they harvest their kinds of venom.” 

Someone put a small note here, marked out the venom part and wrote in different handwriting: “which means apitoxin”. 

“Use natural bees to provide cover when needed, and also employ the "Mellifer Stinger" as a defense - a Jules Verne-Esque syringe-like device used to deliver their apitoxin. Hexenbeists are their natural enemies.” On the side of this paragraph, there is a pic showing a bee-sting-like syringe that looks like something you can find in a medieval torture dungeon. The pic did not show how big is the "Mellifer Stinger" but Rey guess she just finds the murder weapon of the flash-mob-gone-wrong victim. 

This means she needs to check a dead body’s tongue tomorrow to confirm her theory...

_Ew._

Rey reads on, apparently, among all wesens, Mellifers have a rather good relationship with Grimm. They claim themselves as clarions and diplomats. And they take it upon themselves to warn Grimms of threats in the Wesen world.

“The Mellischwuler is the "queen bee" of the Mellifer hive, she is strong enough to wrestle with a Hexenbiest. And she is also the one who can learn the prophecy from her vision. Unfortunately, their vision ability will weaken as they age. And to gain the prophecy again, these mild creatures will commit something horrible. A willingly self-sacrifice Mellifer, often a ‘work bee’, will give out his lung when he is in human form. The human lungs can be refined into a paste and added to pastries. When consumed by the Mellischwuler, she will experience visions of colors and shapes, and gains prophecy. This may even help enhance honey production when administered to an active hive.”

**Fuck.**

Rey stares at the paragraph she just read, she knows it may seem far-fetched, and all the connections are still substantial.

A lung-removed John Doe. An elite lawyer who dies to anaphylaxis shock cause by apitoxin. 

Two different cases, and yet both probably done by the same people.

And she somehow is involved in all this mess. Because she is a Grimm now.

  


* * *

  
Kylo Ren just hung up the phone, his left-hand man just reported him with an update of the prophecy. 

he stands still for a while, then crunches his phone into a piece of trash, and he just lashes off and goes into a full rage.

The bastard, he is familiar with that phrase.

But the diluted prince, diluted...

_Then let him show them how dark is his heritage..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So some recaps~  
> 1\. Grimm, superpower wesen hunters, able to see wesens' woge forms. Rey is a newbie Grimm who still struggles to learn.  
> 2\. Mellifer, bee-like wesen  
> 3\. Hexenbiest, extraordinary beauty when they are in human form, but will turn into decay corpse when they woge  
> 4\. Yes, Kylo Ren has some sort of relationship with the royals. Anyone want to guess what species he is?


	7. Queenbee

"Care packages from Pryde, Sloane, Hux, and Associates have arrived, so please sighed here. " Paige has to call up five people to bring up all the boxes. These boxes and boxes of case files could have drowned Rey and Poe. Unwillingly look at each other, they each grab a box and start digging.

Enric Pryde was right about one thing: Jul Jerrod was their star employee, she had joined Pryde, Sloane, Hux, and Associates straight out of law school, worked her way up from an intern to senior associates, and she was considered as a candidate for an equity partner, and the number of cases she has been involved in is enormous. She specialized in contract law, and many of her lawsuits are cases of business mergers and contracting mistakes, and the amount of profits involved is not small at all. If someone really wanted to kill her because they lost a lawsuit, well, let's just say there will be a street full of suspects.

"Damn, turns out that Beckett's Sugar Factory case was pursued by their law firm, too. Damn, Beckett's honey candy was really good, but it was taken off the market after the factory has been sold, " Poe sighs.

"Let me see. " Rey, thrilled by the word honey, takes over the file in Poe’s hand. It was a messy class-action lawsuit, and Jul Jerrod from Pryde, Sloane, Hux, and Associates, represents the large corporate PrimCandy to handle this hostile takeover bid. It was a long, drawn-out case, and it is just finished, Beckett's Sugar Factory lost, and PrimCandy triumphs.

The owner and CEO of Beckett's sugar factory is a woman named Deborah Becket, she was called “Honey Diva” due to her success. Rey put down the file, turns to her own computer, and looked her up. The pictures that popped up stunned her.

This is the woman from the beekeeping professor's house.

Given what she found in the old trailer, she has no doubt that Deborah Becket is the “Queen Bee”, no wonder she would run a sugar factory and specializes in honey candy...

Rey is still trying to figure out how to get the “Honey Diva” over here without raising Poe's suspicions. After all, the victim had so many cases, how can she say this case is the one most likely got her killed? Or should her just simply cast a wide net to bring all the suspects together, but that will be a lot of work... She's still working on it, suddenly the whole hall began to stir. Rey and Poe stand up incredulously and see a large crowd of people rush in.

"Looks like your flash mob gift bags have arrived, " Paige said as she pushed her way through the crowd, "I'm telling you, Captain Ren is taking this case very seriously, and he's been watching me closely. Yesterday, he asked me to arrange a TV report in order to get these guys to come forward with information, the crime stopper hotline has been flooded by enthusiastic people. Currently, there are 22 people here, you need to take statements or something, hurry up. Otherwise, there's not enough room for these 'Villagers'. "

Rey and Poe trudge to the interrogation room.

All these people, there are maybe 30 of them, all they said are very similar: they checked out twitter, someone posted a flash mob notice. The time, place, and content of the event were all on the twitter. Get on the tram, and start dancing as the tram passed the bridge, and they didn't know each other...Again and again and it just like the replay button is broken, Rey and Poe were deadpan by the end of the interrogation with splitting headaches.

But this one here, he's exactly repeating himself. The words are the same as if his answer was memorized each one of them.

"Just a moment, Mr.Shellow. If you don't mind, I'd like to ask again, " Rey said.

"Again? " The man in the yellow-and-black jacket was visibly impatient, still he waves his hand. "Okay, okay, go ahead. "

"Why did you go to this flash mob? " Rey sits up straight, staring at the other person.

The man takes a breath and begins, "I saw this tweet, saying there will be a flash mob, and I thought it was such a chance to have fun, so I should go... "

"Do you hear it? " Rey snaps at him, "You just said the same thing you said to me ten minutes ago as if I were listening to an echo. And you said you saw this tweet, so can you show me this tweet? I know you brought your phone in, because it keeps beeping."

The man chokes at her words, subconsciously covering his pocket: "There is private information on my phone... "

"I don't want to violate your privacy, I just want to see the tweet, " Rey says, smiling and holding out her hand. The man now is tightly clutching his pocket and showing resistance all over his body.

The two of them were locked in a standoff until Poe knocked on the interrogation room door. Rey gets up and walks toward the door.

"Did you get anything? " Poe asks as she closes the door.

"Nothing? I know everyone's answer sounds pretty much the same, but this guy is like on a repeat loop, using the exact same words again and again, like he has memorized them before came in, " Rey shrugs. "I asked him to show me the tweet, and he reacted as if I were trying to dig up classified information on his phone. "

"That's weird? " Poe frowns and looks at the man inside, "I just saw the tweet from a volunteer, and Paige checked it out, and it's a brand-new account, and it's just one tweet on it. The account was registered to a random spam account. It feels like it is just a burner account. "

"Then why is he so nervous... " Rey turns her head around, and out of the corner of her eye, the man turned into a bee-like creature and gestures to someone outside. Rey turns back, a man sitting in the hall just turns like a bee as well, his jaw twitching and gesticulating.

Bull's-eye. Mellifers.

"Let's hold him for 48 hours while we investigate, " Rey says, looking over her shoulder at Poe. "See what secrets he's been hiding. "

Poe nods. "I'll tell Paige to dig his shit out. "

Paige has always been efficient, and this time is no exception, and she quickly got them a stack of files. Rey rips through it, no priors, lives with his family, and clearly an Internet addict..

"Work History: Beckett's Sugar Factory... " Rey sees this, raises an eyebrow, now she just get a perfect reason to bring the “Honey Diva” in for questioning. As she is about to tell this to Poe, Paige's underling, Officer Vincent, walks up to them: "Detectives, Sergent Tico just called. She want to let you know there's been another flash mob murder happened in Chapman Square. "

Poe curses, grabs his shirt, and leaves, with Rey right behind.  


* * *

  
By the time they arrived at the scene, Captain Ren was already there, squatting over a body covered in white cloth with a grave look. Rey has already see the look of the body from a distance, not much different from the first flash mob victim.

"Her name was Camilla Gotleib, and she was just about to do yoga as usual, and a bunch of flash mob just flooded in, and this time they were doing motherfucking baby shark, and as soon as those flash mobers was out of the way, the crowd found her dead body lying on the ground. " Paige leads them both into the scene, talks as her walks. "The security cameras over there caught everything. "

"Camilla Gotleib? " Rey heard the name and suddenly thinks of something, "BECKETT'S SUGAR FACTORY! On behalf of PrimCandy, there were three lawyers from Pryde, Sloane, Hux, and Associates on the take over the case of Beckett's sugar factory, two of them were Jul Jerrod and Camilla Gotleib. And the man who wouldn't show us his phone was a former employee of Beckett's sugar factory."

"Then they'll probably go after the other lawyer next, " Poe turns around quickly. "We need to put her in protective custody, Sir. "

"Hurry up. I don't want to see a third flash mob murder. " Ren nods and slowly gets up from the body.

"The third lawyer is a he, " Rey pulls out her cell phone and inform the colleagues. "This is Detective Kanata. Please send a team to Pryde, Sloane, Hux, and Associates to place a lawyer in protective custody. His name is Armitage Hux. "

"So this Mellischwuler has killed two hexenbiest and made me her next target, " says Armitage Hux, who sits in his real boss's office with mixed feelings.

And his boss who just gave him the death notice looks at him with a "shouldn't you have already known? " look.

Forgive me, your highness. This dumb-ass sitting in front of you really did not see it coming okay?

But Armitage Hux, who has a heart full of rambles is too coward to say it out loud, has no choice but to take it: "I made a mistake. "

"You need to be careful not to slip up in front of Kanata. True, she's a rookie Grimm, but she's got a knack for being a detective so fast. " Ren finishes, look up and see Rey and Poe standing outside the door, so he waves them in. Hux gets out of his chair.

"Mr. Hux, these are Detective Dameron and Detective Kanata, they are the ones in charge of this case, and it was Detective Kanata who discovered the connection between the victims and you, so for your own safety, we've invited you here. "

"Hello, Mr. Hux . " Poe reaches out. "Hux in your firm's name? "

"That's from my father, " Hux said with a smirk. "I have not made naming partners. "

"Father and son work at the same firm? " Poe says with a crooked smile.

"My father passed away last year, and the firm was kind enough to keep his name, " Hux’s smirk almost break. Pryde and Sloane, that two old bastards, are not soft-hearted at all, they only kept the Hux name to keep Brendol Hux's clients, and of course he lets these old bastards bleed a little, made himself an equity partner and didn't pay much. Why else would he stay here and be butchered, wouldn't it be nice to just walk away with his Asshole Dad's resources.

As soon as Rey heard the words "passed away, " she promptly elbows Poe.

"I'm sorry. " Poe also didn't expect this development, formally apologizes.

Hux waves and says, "It's okay. ".

"Mr. Hux , what do you remember about Beckett's sugar factory case? " Rey looks at the red-haired lawyer in the fine suit.

"To be honest, I was impressed. She spat directly in my face at the sentencing, it was the first time in my practices, " Hux responds, "But after all at that time she just lost her family business and it was inevitable that she would get emotional. I just didn't think she would go so extreme... "

"Speaking of which, " the red-haired lawyer says as he turns around and takes a flash drive out of his briefcase. "Here's a little video files of the sugar factory deal that might help. "

Poe takes the flash drive, and Rey nearly pops her eyes out as she sees her partner ran his finger through the red-haired lawyer's palm. She smiles awkwardly, says thank you, and hurrys Poe out of the captain's office.

"What were you thinking? " Rey grimaces at Poe. "there's a killer out there already taken out two of his colleagues. Do your job before you lay your hands on him. "

Poe, grinning like a thief, waves the flash drive in his hand. "Okay, okay, Abuela, why don't we go through this now? "

Rey nods.

Most of the video files are about sugar factory acquisition. One of the videos that caught their attention was a presentation by Deborah Beckett to Primandy.

"Ms. Beckett, please answer the question regarding the quarterly earnings," said a man, in a distant voice.

The "Honey Diva" in the video is dressed in a black business suit with gold accessories, as she leaned forward to explain, you could hear the clinking of the gold chains she was wearing: "It's not about the money. They're just trying to get rid of us. All the workers here, all the people, we're family. But these people want to root us out because we're in their way."

"The quarterly earnings, Ms. Beckett, " the distant male voice repeated.

"I know who's behind this, " Deborah says, clenching her teeth. "And they are not gonna get away with i. "

Poe presses the pause button and deflates his lips. "that sounds like a threat. "

"You check Deborah's address and details, and I'll go to the M.E.'s office to see if there's anything new on the second body. " Rey nods and walks to the M.E.'s office.  


* * *

  
Maybe it’s for the sake of body preserving or maybe it just wants to add some horror movie vibe, the coroner's office and Autopsy Room are on the basement level. Zorii had just finished dissecting Camilla Gotleib when Rey enters the office. The results are really close to the results of Jules Jerrod, anaphylaxis caused by the same type of bee venom, the same type of weapon, and the wounds are in a similar place.

"Where are their tongues? " Rey is still trying to figure out how to pry open a corpse's mouth to look at the base of its tongue, only to find that the tongues seems to be... missing?

"The body was so swollen that I had to cut out the tongue to get a look inside, " says Zorii, opening the refrigerator in the back and scooping out two large glass jars. "Here it is. "

Zorii places the jar on the side table. Rey looks through the glass for a long time but did not find where the hexenbiest mark is. She looks at Zorii. "Can I take it out? "

"Sure, " says Zorii, a little puzzled, but no questions. She opens both jars, takes one out with a pair of pliers, and hands it to Rey. Rey takes a handy magnifying glass and, sure enough, found a crescent-shaped brand-like mark on the bottom of the tongue.

She puts this one back in its jar and takes another piece out of the jar beside it.

It's the same. The hexenbiest mark.

Both victims are hexenbiests.

Rey put the tongue back to the jar, thanks Zorii, and heads out, her head is now spinning.

Well, everything in the trailer tells that the Mellifers have a beef with the Hexenbiests, not to mention Beckett’s family business was wiped out by some Hexenbiest lawyers, Deborah Beckett has got the motive and means for revenge. But Rey can’t help but think something is wrong, the flash mob murders were too high-profile, and it was way too dramatic for carrying out revenge. Deborah claimed in the video that they had been "root out" because someone was manipulating this... and also the fact she came to the beekeeping professor's house to tell her some mumble jumbles... but Rey feels she was looking out from a veil, she seems to see something clearly, but she actually doesn't see anything.

Back at her desk, Captain Ren was standing there, listening to Poe's debrief.

"Any luck with Camilla Gotleib? " The tall man looks at her.

Rey clears her throat. "Nothing special, not much different from the autopsy on our first victim, Jul Jerrod. Anything on Deborah Beckett? "

"No credit card activity, no travel, she has a daughter who moved to Florida in recent years, and the mother-daughter relationship is said to be rocky, " Poe shrugs, "There's a big house under her name, but it looks like it's vacant. "

"Why don't we go to her house? She's got to be somewhere, " Rey says, looking for permission at the Captain standing next to her.

Ren nods. "Go. "

"Yes, sir. " Poe and Rey nods and drove to Deborah Beckett.  


* * *

  
Deborah Beckett's house is also a family heirloom, a classic Victorian house with a pointed roof and framed windows, but it looks as though it hadn't been tended to in a long time, and moss and vines had begun to grow on the exterior walls. Poe pulls into the driveway, gets out, looks at Rey, and they walk to the front door.

Poe knocks on the door. It is open. He pushes it open. "Portland P.D., is anyone there? "

His voice echos through the empty house and the two of them look at each other, both reach to their guns.

"Let’s start from the top floor and search it from top to bottom, " Poe says, walking up the stairs, Rey right behind him.

Strangely enough, the further up the stairs, there is more dead bees appear on the ground, and the higher up they go, the more there are.

There is only one room on the third floor. Poe grabs the handle. Rey standing on the other side. "Three, two, one. " Poe pulls the door open, and Rey enters the room with her gun up, and she look around, startles by what she sees showing by the flashlight.

Poe found the switch by the door, and when the light came on, they see that the whole attic of the roof was a giant hive, hanging from a beam in the middle, but the room was dead silent, there was no sound other than Poe and Rey's breathing, and the bodies of the original occupants of the room lay on the floor. Each of them steps on a pile of dead bees at the slightest movement.

"At least now we know where the apitoxin came from, " Poe sighs.

They exit the room and calls the precinct, CSI and Paige's team rushes over and even packs their bee suits just in case. But after a search, there was not a single living bee in the whole house.

"They made a quick match and confirmed that the bee venom from the two victims was a match to the bee venom found at the scene. The bees seem to be hybrids. A beekeeping lover at CSI says it looks like a cross between Italian bee and European dark bee. He also says that the hybrids of European dark bee tend to have violent tempers, so there's not a lot of that going on."Paige walks over, and briefs Rey and Poe on the CSI findings. "and judging by the state of the house, it's been a long time since anyone's been here. "

"So where's Deborah Beckett? " Poe frowns.

After much thought, Rey decided to speak up, "Actually, I think I've seen her. "

"What? " Paige and Poe burst out.

"The last time I saw her was across the living room at Spinella’s house, I thought that’s his wife but now I recalled, the woman I saw that day looks like her. " Rey decided to keep the prophecy to herself, she really didn't know how to explain the whole Grimm and Wesen thing to her colleagues.

Poe gasps. "All right, let's go check it out. What if you did see her? Paige, give us a bee. Let's pretend we're going over there and ask what kind of bee it is. "

Paige nods, turns back to the house, and after a while, she takes out an evidence bag with some dead bees in it.

They grab the bags and head to the suburb. When Rey gets off, she immediately notices something is off. It's too quiet. When she walks around the back yard, all the hives were gone.

"Door's locked. No one answers. He's a civilian. We can't break in without a warrant. " Poe walks from the front door. Rey sees one or two dead bees on the ground. She squats down, picks up a branch from the side and gives it a tug.

"Poe? "

"What? " Poe leans over.

"Do you have the bees Paige just bagged? " Poe hands over the evidence bag, Rey compares it, looking up to Poe, she says, "I'm no entomologist, but the dead bees here are probably the same species as the ones in Deborah Beckett's house. "

She wraps her hands in a tissue, picks up the dead bee on the floor, and shows it to Poe.

Poe gestures: "Looks like we have enough to get a judge to issue a warrant. I'll let the Captain know. "

Along with the warrant comes Captain Ren himself. The CSI team opens the door, goes to the top floor, was about to works their way down, and finds another large hive in the attic again, smaller than the one in Deborah Beckett's house, and a lot less bee debris.

The bee-keeping lover from CSI painfully convinced that the two hives are home to the same species of hybrid bee, which is extremely rare and definitely not a native species, but is artificially propagated.

"So now we have a suspect, but she's gone except leaving us with a ton of dead bees. " Ren's voice is deep, not much higher than his mood now. "And we have a potential victim need to be guard, and we don't know when this Deborah Beckett will strike again. "

"The guy, the guy who wouldn't show me his phone, Doug Shellow, we hold him for 48 hours, is he still there? " Rey has an epiphany.

Poe looked at her incredulously. "What do you have? You got that look on your face. "

"Sir, we don't have a suspect right now, and we're looking for a needle in a haystack, but what if we lure her out? Have her staff give her a heads-up? " Rey looks up at the captain, who was standing on her side.

Ren raises his eyebrows. "Talk about it. "


	8. Honey or poison

"Doug Shellow, " Rey says, slamming into the interrogation room with an evidence bag containing a cellphone in a yellow-and-black case. She takes the phone out of the bag and throws it on the table. Doug Shellow shivers as it clangs. "We know that the bee venom found on the victim was extracted from your boss's bees, and you were close to her, you were also at the crime scene, and according to the tram footage, you were standing right behind the victim. Wanna talk now? May a little confession?"

Doug Shellow now is completely calm: "I'm not saying anything until my lawyer is here. "

"Oh, now you know the law, " Rey says, leaning on the table and shaking the phone. "Why don't you just play along and show me that tweet? "

"I'm not saying anything until my lawyer is here. " Doug Shellow repeats.

"I know you're up to something. There's gonna be a third victim, isn't there? " Rey stares at Doug Shellow. "Who is she? Who are you up to? ".

"I'm not saying anything until my lawyer is here. " Doug Shellow repeats, again.

Rey puts the phone down and is about to say more when Poe opens the door and snaps at Rey, "Rey, the Captain wants to talk to you. "

"I'm in the middle of an interrogation... " Rey is interrupted by Poe.

"Get out of there. "

Rey stands up indignantly and walks out the door, slamming it shut.

Doug Shellow and the cell phone on the desk are all that was left in the interrogation room.

Rey and Poe walk into the next room and looked at Doug Shellow through the one-way Mirror. Paige and Captain Ren are also here.

"Great job, Rey, really got some Meryl Streep vibe, " Paige quips.

"All thanks to my high school Drama Club, I played Ophelia in Hamlett, " Rey laughs.

"Now let's hope he bites, " Poe murmurs as he looking at Doug Shellow across the mirror.

Unaware that he was being watched by four pairs of eyes, Doug Shellow looks at the phone, struggles, and picks it up.

"Can you intercept that message? " Ren looks at Paige at her computer.

"Sure, I'm Asian. " Everyone in the room almost burst out laughing, and Paige clacks frantically: "Got it. He just sent a message to an unknown user saying, 'they don't know. AH open. ' "

"AH. Armitage Hux. " Poe looks back at Rey. "Guess we're going to sitting ducks. "  


* * *

  
They get a rookie and get him to wear a red wig, so he can pretend to be Armitage Hux and go back to Hux's house, where the captain has two units waiting for Deborah Beckett to come. Meanwhile, Rey and Poe arrives in a suite at a hotel with the real Armitage Hux.

Rey pushes Poe off because she has something she needs to ask Armitage Hux privately, and also because she couldn't stand this philandering Latino playboy hitting on the client in her face.

At least wait until the case is over, Jesus. He's a damn lawyer, and she really doesn't want to be sued for malpractice because of her partner's lifestyle.

Okay, okay, on the other hand, she was a little concerned about Poe's safety. After all, this redheaded lawyer might as well be a hexenbiest.

According to what she found on the trailer, the hexenbiest will not go easy with the heartbreaker.

She sits across from Armitage Hux and asks, "Are you a Hexenbiest, too? Why does the Mellischwuler want you dead? "

Hux, his face visibly frozen, smirks and replies, "Detective, what are you talking about? "

"I am a Grimm, and I know that mellifers has a vendetta against your kind, and I know that Deborah Beckett is the Mellischwuler, and I went to the morgue to confirm that both of your unfortunate female colleagues were Hexenbiest. Do you want to talk now, or do you want me to drag out your tongue to check?" Rey, talking slowly, watch the man's face.

Hux woges and his glowing red eyes stares straight at the Grimm. Rey did not flinch but observes at it with interest. Hux bobs his head and turns back into a human.

"Let's start with your mistake. I'm a biest, yes, but I'm not a hexenbiest. I'm a ZAUBERBIEST. " Armitage Hux rolls his eyes. "You don't seem to know much about your business, Detective Grimm. "

Rey's a little embarrassed, but she's not making any noise.

"Now that we both know what we are, I'm not going to mince words. Why is the Mellischwuler after you? " Rey is serious, Hux bites his mouth.

You're the one who gets her onto us, okay? Hux now has millions of words running through his head. It wasn't their intention to buy out Beckett's sugar factory, but of course, it meets their satisfaction as hexenbiest since who would enjoy the frustration of their natural enemy, but it was all done in accordance with the contract, and they won in court with sufficient evidence.

But then a new Grimm pops up, the coven is not covering trail careful enough, and the Queen Bee gets all jumpy and gets the prophecy, and then the dots start to connect, and it turns into this ridiculous flash mob murders in a roll.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk? " Rey raises an eyebrow. "Or do you want to be victim number four? "

"Number four? " Hux frowns. "What are you talking about? There are only two victims now. "

"The Mellischwuler consume human lungs to get the prophecy. We had just received a report of a John Doe's death, a healthy white male, who had his throat slashed, and his lungs were removed shortly after death, leaving all other organs untouched. "

Fucked the shit out of it.

Is Deborah Beckett crazy?

Remembering that the prophecy he struggles to gain, Hux's face turns gray.

"So... " before Rey could finish, suddenly Poe is screaming, "Bees! "

Rey runs him, and Hux couldn't help but stand up. The bright room darkens suddenly, he looks out of the window and sees a swarm of bees pressing down on the glass.

Oh, shit. The Queen Bee's here.

Poe was waving a towel around when Rey bursts into the pantry. A swarm of bees swarming in through the window. She tries to pull it shut, but the window was jammed. She picks up the towel to close the crack in the window, but it is too little, and the bees are flying into the room. Oddly though, Rey does not get stung at all, while Poe is screaming all sorts of things.

Not sure what happened, but the bees just scatter.

"I've never seen so many damn bees in my life," says Poe who looks like hell and Rey busy checking things out. She runs back to the living room and finds Armitage Hux missing.

"Damn it, " Rey snaps, turns to Poe, and says, "Hux is gone, and we need to find him. "

"Why will he run? " Poe is so confused. Rey didn't say anything. She runs out and starts looking for Hux.

There's no light on the elevator. He's not using it. Rey turns and runs to the stairs: "You look upstairs, I'll look down. "

The suite they picked is on the sixth floor, right in the middle of the hotel. Rey runs all the way down, has not seen any people. The bottom floor is the basement, must be an electrical and mechanical room or something, the door said: "Staff Only". Rey was about to turn around and go back upstairs, but she heard a slight buzzing.

She turns slowly, wondering if she was hearing illusion, but they were real. She calls Poe, gives a brief statement, pulls out her gun, slowly unscrews the door handle, and enters the room.

She was right. There are bees in there. Thousands of them.

She walks gingerly through the swarm, trying to track down Hux or Beckett. Soon she heard the sound of a fight, and she runs over and sees the woged Hux scuffling with Beckett.

Armitage Hux now looks like a white-haired Zombie with red glowing eyes. His opponent, the petite "Honey Diva" Deborah Beckett, has been woged into a human-shaped bee, but miraculously, despite her diminutive size, she kicks Hux’s ass.

"Freeze! " Rey raises her gun and shouts at both of them.

Hux sees her as if she were a savior, then suddenly woge back to his human form and shouts, "Shoot her! "

Deborah Beckett turns around and grabs Hux by the hair, shouting, "I'm trying to protect you. I have to kill him. You don't understand. "

"Ms. Beckett, there's no excuse. Stop right there. " Rey takes two steps forward, only to be stopped by a swarm of bees.

"We are clarions, we send warning calls, and we will fight for our home till we are dead," Beckett says, woges back into the decent businesswoman. "We are on your side. "

"You've already killed two innocent women, Ms. Beckett, " Rey says.

“Two hexenbiests.” Beckett takes out the "Mellifer Stinger", a black and yellow weapon Jules Verne-Esque syringe that looks eerily like the one in the book. But Beckett held up the giant syringe with a gentle smile on her face. "I have to fulfill my destiny. You'll understand when he's dead. "

Rey is alert, rushes to her, suddenly she heard two gunshots. She looks over her shoulder. It's Poe. The muzzle of his gun is still smoking.

As the bees scatter, Rey rushes to Deborah Beckett's side to check on her injuries. Poe has always been a good shot, he just shoots her twice in the abdomen. Rey presses her hand on the wound and turns to Poe and shouts, "Call an ambulance! "

Poe nods and runs out. Hux looks at her puzzled: "She's a murder. She just tried to kill me. "

"Even so, I don't want to see someone die in front of me. Give me your tie. " Rey glares at Hux, who reluctantly takes it off, and Rey quickly wrap up Beckett in the stomach.

"Be careful, " Beckett says in a low voice, her breath trailing off. "He's coming for you. "

"Not now. The ambulance is on its way. Stay with me." says Rey, pressing Beckett's wound with an earnest expression. Hux watches in silence.  


* * *

  
The ambulance arrived quickly, and the paramedics quickly took Deborah Beckett away, accompanied by two police officers. Captain Ren rushes over, frowning at the bee-stung bump on Poe and the blood splattered all over Rey.

"Dameron, go to the hospital and get yourself checked out. Kanata, go home and rest. Both of you rest for a couple of days. " With that, he waves Paige over and tells her to send two colleagues to escort them away. Poe decided not to go to the hospital and follows Rey to her house.

Finn happened to be home, and he was shocked to see what happened to these two.

By the time Rey gets out of the shower, Finn is still treating Poe, and Poe is struggling and screaming and being held down by Finn, a trained ex-medic. She couldn't help laughing.

"I have been bitten so many times, but I don't want to go to the hospital. What are you thinking? " Finn said, "If I am still in the army. I would just take a sedative out of my bag and dose you. "

"You didn't see how many bees coming at me, " Poe growls, "and I wound up like this, and look at that brat. Nothing happened to her. ".

"It must be the smell of your perfume, " says Rey, who raises an eyebrow, sits down on the other side of the Sofa, and starts brushing her hair.

Finn nods, "I'm sure it is, " He added: "Look at this little minx, he smells like a flower. So the scout in the bee smells you, thinks you are a good flower, and then calls in his friend and family, Zizzi. Who not sting? "

"You learned it from the army? " Poe raises his eyebrow.

"Nope, Animal Planets rock, you idiot, " Finn says, picked out the last bee sting, and poured some salve on it before rising to his feet. "I'll get some drinks. "

"Beer. " Rey raises her hand.

"Beer for me, too! " Poe shouts. "Does Animal Planets say you can train a swarm of bees to attack people? "

"It sounded more like Candyman, " Finn says, turning around to imitate Tony Todd's voice. "I am the writing on the wall, the whisper in the classroom."

He opens the refrigerator door: "and you are not allowed to drink, just think what medicine you are on, just drink water. "

Finn returns to the Living Room with two beers and a bottle of water. Rey snickers as she takes one of the beer. Finn hands the water to pouting Poe. The three have another bickering and laugh. Poe drinks the last of his water and says he is going home. Finn walks him to the door, nagging all kinds of chatter about not touching water for eight hours, no drinking, no scratching, Poe reply with all sorts of "got it, mom. ". Rey sat on the couch and laughs, and soon Finn comes back, looking at Rey in dismay: "Poe, he's just like an eight-year-old. "

"Sure, " Rey laughs.

"Have some rest " Finn nods. "I'm going to take a shower. "

After Finn left, Rey sits in the living room, watches the ceiling for a while, and decides to go back to her room for some sleep when she heard a buzzing sound.

It is a bee, resting on the coffee table.

Rey standing there, looking at the bee.

"Go, " Rey sighs and waves to the bees.

She strides away, and the bee swoops and flies out of the window.


	9. Toll bridge

It is a sunny afternoon, there are some cozy breezes. Rey is walking to Maz's tomb with a bouquet of daisies on her hands. It kinda becomes a new habit of her. When she has something she can't tell others but she really needs to talk, she will go and talks to Maz. Yes, she will never get an answer from her anymore, but it's nice to dump out all the tangled thoughts. But sometimes she doesn't really come to talk, she just finds comfort whenever she comes to Maz.

Today there is someone who is already there, that large figure is easy to spot. It's Chewbacca.

"Hi, Chewie." Rey walks up, it is not her first-time bumps up Chewbacca here. And it is nice to know there is someone other than her that takes Maz to heart.

Chewie, reticent as always, nods to Rey. As Rey grows familiar with him, she knows that he has been suffering from some blubad throat disease that limits his ability to speak. So he rarely talks, or sometimes he just howls. Weirdly enough, she and Finn are quite getting along with Chewie and even understand most of his howling by now. 

They stand together in front of the tombstone of Maz for a while, then they wave goodbye to each other.

The weather is mild and cozy, but Rey still gets a bit sweaty from all the walking. So the first thing she does when she backs home, she reaches for the refrigerator and takes out a bottle of chilled water...

It supposed to be chilled, though.

Turns out the refrigerator is down and all the stuff inside has turned warm, so Finn calls up a repairer while Rey tries her best to clean out the freezer.

When the repairer knocks on the door, it was Finn who gets her in. So Rey is kinda surprised when she saw Finn brings in a tiny round-face Asian girl in a jumpsuit.

"Hi, I am Rose." Rose has a bright smile on her face. Rey shakes her hands and introduces herself then quickly step aside to let Rose work her magic on the refrigerator,

"This model is quite rare, but I think it is just a small problem with the air inlet damper. It seems that it is stuck closed so the cold air is not enough, that's why everything turns warm. Let me remove it and get you guys a new one." Rose rambles a lot of words to them and immediately turns back to work, Rey and Finn smile at each other.

Rey walks of the kitchen, thinking she might just go out and buy some cold drinks, suddenly there is an "ouch", and Finn shouted: "Rey, get me the first aid kit." Rey rushes to the living room and finds the kit, rushes back to the kitchen. It seems Rose just cut herself on some sharp part, and there is a small but bleeding wound on her palm. It must be excruciating cause the lovely girl now woges into her real form, eh, she is now furry and have big front teeth now and kinda looks like a beaver? 

Before Rey can realize, Rose looks into Rey's eyes and screams out: " **A GRIMM**!"

All of a sudden, she just runs to the door, Finn almost could not holds her back. She is so stressed and scared that it takes some examinations from her and Finn to calm her down. Actually, lots of explanations but somehow they make it work and Finn successfully warp her up in the end.

Also, the refrigerator is back to normal when Rose leaves, so Rey just thinks everything is over.

Spoiler alert, it's not.

‘Cause now she is being confronted by a woged Paige, and oh yes, by the way, guess who is Rose's protective big sister. 

"So you are a **GRIMM**?" Paige woges back, looking at Rey with wide-open eyes.

"Yup...And you are...an Eisbiber?" After she almost scared the shit out of Rose, Finn gave her a really good talk about this timid, peaceful, docile, and nonviolent wesen. Although Paige is nothing docile, to be honest, she is one of the most fierce officers in the precinct, and no one wants to mess up with her. 

"You were not a Grimm when I first met you, and certainly not long ago, because I woges a few times in front of you and Poe before, neither of you noticed at that time." Paige looks stern and confirmed, and she is right on spot.

Rey sighs: "I just turned into one this year." 

"No wonder." Paige lets go of her, "so this year, huh?" She looks out of the window, and Poe sitting there typing in some reports with a grim look.

"Does Poe knows?"

Rey silents, she looks to Poe as well: "I don't know how to tell him."

From all her know, Poe is just a normal person, if he is a wesen, she for sure already told him everything. But how do you break down the truth to a normal person who knows nothing about wesens and can't see wesens unless they are fully woge?

Well, she will cross that bridge when she comes to it. Just not now.

"So...you are not that kind of traditional Grimm, right?" Paige raises one eyebrow, "you are not going to kill every wesen you laid eyes on?"

"Of course not, as a matter of fact, I'm living with a Fuchsbau, and I just recently befriend a Blutbad." Rey smiles, "And my most favorite Sergent is an Eisbiber."

"Aww," Paige smirks and gives her a punch on the shoulder.

And you might think this is the beginning of a good day. Well, you must be new to Homicide Unit, shortly after the small talk, both Rey and Paige are dispatched to a murder scene located in a half-finished bridge building site where a construction contractor was half-buried in cement. Really gang execution style. Since his upper body is totally bound in the hardened cement, they have to call up the fire department and borrow some gears to dig the body out.

Luckily, they got an ID, the guy's driver license is right in his pocket.

Paige takes one look at it and curses out: "Fuck, I know him."

Rey and Poe look to her, she sighs: "He is a family friend, I am not really close to him but I know he's quite a nice guy."

Rey mouths the word _"Eisbiber"_ to Paige when Poe doesn't notice, Paige nods.

Oh shit.

Rey now feels like Detective Conan from _Case Closed_ , wherever she goes, there will be the death of Wesen, which ironically mimics the life of her traditional ancestors who kill off every Wesen they saw.

Well there are might be still some differences, at least she is not the one who has been doing the killings.

Rey starts to look into if the victim Robert Grosszahn's relationships, his ex-wife has moved to New York, his current wife, and kids love him, his many closed friends all said he had a little time but still quite a decent nice guy, and some small argument with his suppliers. Nothing tells why someone would so viciously drown him in cement?

Yup, drown in cement, the M.E. just confirmed that Robert Grosszahn was alive when he was thrown into the not-harden-yet cement.

Poor soul, Rey looks to the white-hair elder on the pic, he really looks like a nice gentleman, which makes his death looks more tragic.

Poe pokes her: "The forensic just get the vic's cell phone worked. The last note said that he had an appointment with someone called S.B.."

"S.B.?" Rey frowns, "I didn't find anyone in the file with that initials."

"How about we go to his company and ask around? Maybe someone from work." Poe shrugs.

Rey nods, then grabs her jacket and goes out with Poe.

They head to the Grosszahn Construction building and question Robert's secretary. She has a short bob, looks sharp but her eyes turn watery and red once Rey mentioned Robert.

"Was he having any problems with the business?" Rey asks, hands over a tissue.

"No." she takes the tissue, presses to the corner of her eyes, "I mean, it was a stressful job, and he was doing battle with the Planning Commission. I worked with him for almost ten years. He was like a father to me. To everyone here really." 

Poe get interested: "What kind of battle was he doing with the Planning Commission?"

"Inspection. Permits, code compliance. It never ends." The secretary shrugs and shakes her head.

Rey follows: "There was something scheduled in his cell phone calendar for 9:30 p.m. Do you what that appointment is?"

"No, I didn't know anything about it," she genuinely looks confused, "I schedule all his meetings. There was no appointment at the time slot you mentioned."

"How about the initials S.B.? it was written right next to the time, does that mean anything to you?" Poe asks.

"No." She shakes her head.

Before leaving, Rey suddenly turns around and asks: "You did mention he's doing battle with the Planning Commission. Was he having trouble with anyone at the Planning Commission?"

The secretary raises her eyebrow and nods: "That would be Mr. Butrell."

Guess what, turns out that the building inspector Mr. Butrell's full name is Salvadore Butrell, his initials are exactly S.B. When Mr. Butrell's secretary lead Rey and Poe to his office, they shared a look when they saw the nameplate on his office door.

Mr. Butrell is a tall and strong man, he raises up from his seat once he saw Rey and Poe walks in: "I am sorry to hear about Robert, how can I help?"

They shake each other's hands, all sit down, Poe talks like it is just a casual chat: "We just have a couple questions. How well did you know about Robert Grosszahn?"

"Oh, we've done a few projects over the years, but I've never gone to his house for dinner if that's what you're talking about." From the look of Mr. Butrell, you wouldn't think he is so talkative and detailed.

"Where were you last night at 9:30?" Rey chirps in.

Mr. Butrell smiles: "Uh, a trip-trap club down on Chauncey. Me and the guys, we have a poker night there every Wednesday."

"You have someone who can vouch for you on that?" Poe stares at his eyes.

"Meh, only six or so. I hope that's enough." Mr. Butrell gestures in the air with a smirk on his face, suddenly he changes his tone: "You don't think I had anything to do with this?"

"We just need to check out everybody who had contact with Robert recently." Rey puts on her classic docile smile, "We understand there was some contention between you two about the bridge projects? The last note on his cell phone said that he had an appointment with someone with the initials S.B., Mr. Salvadore Butrell."

He woges right in front of her, oh she knows this one.

Hässlich. Big ugly violent troll.

Guess he did have the power to throw Robert Grosszahn into the cement.

He is surprised to know what Rey is, but he holds back nicely. And he looks quite calming as well if his tone is not that rush: "You know, we did talk about setting something up for 9:30 this morning, but he never got back to me. Maybe he put in his phone wrong."

"Sorry to intrude. We got Johnson Construction down there asking about the permits for the highway." A guy walks in, talks to Butrell.

Butrell nods to him: "Tell them I'll be there in a few."

The guy was about to leave, but Butrell calls him back: "Wait a minute, tell these detectives where I was last night." 

The guy heads back: "Oh, he was with us guys in a trip-trap club down on Chauncey. We had a poker night there, this guy won a bunch and took all our money. Need to know how much?"

"That's okay. We're done for now. Thank you for your time." Poe gives a fake smile, stands up. Rey follows.

As they walk out, Poe grumbles with Rey: "Guess we now have a suspect with a fucking alibi."

"And we have no evidence and witness to tie him up." Rey sighs.


	10. Leave it to beavers

It is a long day, Rey thinks her brain might have just melted, which triggers her to hoard some ice cream, so she goes to the supermarket to get some ice cream.

But she suddenly gets this weird feeling like she is being watched.

She turns around and sees an old lady deliberately turns her head once she lays eyes on her.

What the heck?

She grabs some Mint chocolate chip ice cream and Sea salt caramel ones and just goes straight to cashier.

Maybe she just overthinks.

Or...maybe not.

These weird moments of being onlooking just get more and more frequent. This morning she was jogging and some random just ask to take pictures with her.

What is going on???

So this night when she realizes some people are stalking her, she decides to tolerate no more, and grabs the stalker by his collar and yells: "What's wrong with you!" 

The one grab by her is just a teenage boy, he gets scared and woges.

Eisbiber.

Rey loosens up a bit, that boy scatters away with his companions. 

So the next day, Rey goes to her most familiar Eisbiber to ask what the hell happened.

Paige is kinda pissed off when she hears what happen to Rey, she struggles to explain that it is kind of natural behavior of Eisbiber, they are really curious about new stuff and sometimes they can be ridiculously nosy. Hence why Rey the new Grimm is getting all that harass.

"I will talk to them," Paige sworn sincerely.

* * *

And oh she does give a really serious talk to her sister later that night because it was Rose who told their Aunt D'Acy who spread the news out.

"You know Aunt D'Acy can't shut her mouth! WHY WOULD YOU TELL HER???" Paige is roaring, and Rose can't refute any accusations from her beloved big sister.

Paige has no ways but to talk to Aunt D'Acy, luckily Aunt D'Acy's partner is really a sweetheart and she promised will help spread the advice and ask all the Eisbibers stop disturbing Rey's life.

Paige comes out from their house and bumps into her spooky Uncle Ackbar, his house is right next to Aunt D'Acy's. He says "hi" but Paige quickly realizes something is wrong.

"You're hiding something." Paige looks to Ackbar, this retired Admiral shakes a bit like he just gets stunned, he waves his hand and tries to deny: "What are you talking about?"

"Your side yard." Paige points to it, "There's a trap over the basement door, you never put a trap on it before. So why the change? And also those potted ferns got pushed around to block sightlines from the street. So you must hide something or someone in your basement? What is it? Or who is it?"

Paige stares at Ackbar, she worshiped him as a child and he is kind of that person who inspires her to wear a uniform, and she knows he is a decent man to his bones. So why is he hiding?

Ackbar sighs, he puts a finger to his lips suggest her to shush, then walks back to his house and waves to her to follow up.

Paige quickly walks in, and follow Ackbar to his basement. He is hiding someone, someone she knows. It's Noah Starck, he is like her what three times removed cousin? Paige is not sure, but she knows him.

"Why are you hiding here?" Paige is confused, she is looking at Starck then Ackbar.

Starck is resistant at first but still, he tells Paige everything, and Paige is shocked as hell.

The night when Robert Grosszahn was murdered, he was at the scene. He was checking some machine and stuff to make sure everything is alright that's why he stayed up so late and witness a Hässlich put that poor old man's head into the cement. He was trying to call 911 but failed and that Hässlich found out about him. He barely escaped and he is too afraid to go home so he went to Ackbar for help.

"Noah, you are the only witness." Paige looks to Starck, "if you don't come forward, that Hässlich will get away."

"But if I come forward, the Hässlich is going to kill me, or worse, they will just kill us all." Starck is getting a little bit hysteric.

"Rey will help. And she can help."Paige says.

Ackbar looks at her with a confused expression: "Who is Rey?"

"She is the detective on this case and she is the Grimm." Paige explains and Noah Starck gets even more hysteric: "You're on a first-name basis with the Grimm? Are you out of your mind?"

"She is not the enemy!" Paige snaps at Starck, "She is a good person, an amazing friend, and a damn brilliant detective. And I can trust her with my life." 

Senses the tension in the air, Ackbar steps and rule it out: "It is not a simple issue anymore. We need to take this to the lodge. Fair and democratic, everyone gets to vote."

Paige tries to refute but get shush by Ackbar: " No more argument, Paige. I know your concern and your duty as a cop but Noah is right, this can leads the genocide of our kind. We need to take it to the lodge."

* * *

So the next day at work, Paige borrows Rey from Poe for a while.

She is nervous: "I find a witness to the case, but he's afraid to step forward because the murderer is a Hässlich. And there is a long time feud between us and them so he is scare of the consequence if he tells the truth."

"Hässlich?" Rey is excited, "Me and Poe went to the Planning Commission the other day and the building inspector Salvadore Butrell is a Hässlich. We all suspect it is him who done it but he has an alibi and we couldn't tie him to it. If that witness can come forward, this will be a great breakthrough. But what kind of feud is holding him back?"

Paige sighs and explains: "Hässlich have a thing for bridges. And Eisbibers have a thing of building. Hässlich thinks they own the bridges, all of them. No one touches them without those guys getting a cut. So the Eisbibers who wants to build bridges needs to pay up."

"So...extortion gone wrong?" Rey raises an eyebrow.

"Well, you can say that. But some old school folks might just call it a tradition." Paige shrugs, "Speaking of which, can you be at the old power plant at the bull run dam tonight at nine?"

"Why? What happened?" Rey looks at Paige.

"There is going to be an Eisbiber lodge meeting, and at the meeting, they will decide if the witness should come forward or stay silent." Paige pinches the bridge of her nose, "they are scared this decision will harm the safety of the neighborhood."

Rey pats on her shoulder: "It's okay, I understand, will be there."

When Rey drives herself to the old power plant, Paige has already been there waiting. She leads her down the stair and explains how the lodge meeting. Basically, it is a council or a courtroom of Eisbibers, everyone who is a legal adult gets to vote. They don't often crowd up like this though, ‘cause they believe that they are "strong together, safer apart." Yes, they can fight best together, but still, they are less likely to be sniffed out if they hide in separate places. 

While explaining all these, Paige is a little bit ashamed, she knows it is the nature of their kind, but still, it is too coward to just hide. And she doesn't like hiding, not a bit. Rey senses that, she says nothing, just encouragingly pats on Pat's back.

When they walk into the Lodge, the crowd is already arguing. Some middle-aged guy argues: "Eisbiber and Hasslichen have lived by certain customs for centuries! It is not really likable or fair, but it works! As long as we live by those customs, no one gets hurt." 

After he says that, many people echos with it. But a girl just stands out and angrily refutes: "With all due respect, we're getting hurt all the time. We're living in constant fear, and that's no way to live! We got to stand up against those bullies!" Rey recognizes the voice, it is Rose's. 

There is an elder dressing in a robe standing in the rostrum and banging the gavel. When the quarrel settles a bit, he starts saying: "The assembly has been advised of tonight's question. Will Paige Tico please come forward and introduce our guests?" 

As he finishes saying, Paige leads Rey through the crowd, just like Moses part the Red Sea, the crowd splits in the middle and make a way for the two. Rey follows Paige while she introduces her: "Detective Rey Kanata of the Portland Police Department. My dear friend and a reliable colleague."

They walk to the front of the crowd, turns around. Rey looks at them, some of them are afraid, some are curious, and some are suspicious. 

She clears her throat and tries: "Thank you for having. I am a detective and a Grimm. And I am working on the case of Robert Grosszahn. During my research, it seems that Robert is a kind man and a decent guy but he was brutally murder. One of you has witnessed HIS murder. We have a suspect now but we have no evidence or other witnesses to tie him up. So without that testimony, that murderer might very well walk free. I understand your fear, I really do, I was attacked by a Hasslich before, he was a Grimm Reaper and he was trying to kill me and my aunt. I shot him dead." The crowd is surprised by her statement and many of them are talking nervously now. Rey takes a deep breath and continues: "I want you to know that things can change. I can help you but only if you help yourselves first. So please, let the witness know that if he comes forward, then together we can put an end to this threat." 

The crowd now is totally boiling up. They are shouting stuff and yells at each other. The elder has to bang the gavel like crazy to get people back in order. He tiredly says: "We will put the question to a vote. All those in favor of the witness to come forward, raise your hands."

Paige and Rose raise their hands up high immediately and they eagerly look around. But there are not too many follows.

"And those opposed." 

A sea of hands are raised, Rey is a little disappointed, and Paige looks like she gets hurts.

The elder hit the gravel and makes the final call. The witness shall not come forward to the police. Right after that bang, he is panicky and speaks to Rey with a trembled voice: "I hope the Grimm won't chop all our heads off because our voting displeases you. We are what we are."

Rey just shakes her head. Paige leads her out, her eyes have gone red and watery due to disappointment, shame, and anger. After she walks Rey to her car, she just says: "I am sorry."

"It's okay. You did your best." Rey pats on her shoulder, "It will be difficult to get Sal Butrell but I and Poe will try our best."

"I just don't understand why our kind is so cowardice," Paige blunts, "It is our kind who dies and they pretends it is nothing matter. And they are just going to willingly get bullied."

"Not all of you," Rey looks at Paige, "You and Rose done great. There will be changes. Maybe just not this time."

She gets in the car and drives away. Paige stands still there and looks idly into the nearby woods. Neither of them notices that Noah Starck was standing behind them hiding in the shades.

* * *

Kylo Ren is pissed off, everyone can see that Sal Butrell is the one who did it and his cousins and friends are lying for him to get him an alibi. But they just have nothing against this bloody man.

Poe and Rey standing in front of his desk, heads down, like two pupils who are getting scold by the principal.

"Kanata, try again to get the witness to talk. I don't want to see this man walks free." Ren looks at Rey, his voice is low and stern. Rey nods quickly, Poe silently sends her a sympathetic look.

When they walk out, Rey is called up by Paige who is excited right now: "Rey, see who is here." Rey looks to where Paige is pointing, a young man is standing beside a man in his forties and Rose. He slowly approaches: "I am Noah Starck, I am the witness you are looking for."

He is really nervous and fidgeted, but he still manages to say: "I think I am ready to help." 

Rey gives him a big smile: "Thank you to come forward."

Then everything rolls fast, they go get Sal Butrell, Rey puts the handcuff on him by herself. But he looks beaten up, and Rey wonders what happened so she asks him after Poe has read him his rights.

"Family reunion." He smirks.

Poe pushes him into the car, Rey suddenly feels someone is lurking around, she is being watched.

But this time does not like the times she was onlooking by curious Eisbiber, this time she feels danger. 

She frowns and sits in the car, looks at Butrell suspiciously.

Something is definitively wrong.

Noah Starck identifies Butrell right off the bet, once everything is on record, Rey talks to him: "I know this wasn't easy. But thank you very much, it means a lot."

Paige bumps Noah on the arm: "I'm proud of you." 

Rey smiles and continues: "Just lay low for a while. Do you have any place safe where you can stay?"

"How about the Lodge?" Rose suggests, Ackbar nods in agreement, and Noah shrugs: "Yeah, I think the Lodge sounds good."

"Let me drive you there. Just make sure you arrive there safely."

* * *

Ackbar just goes home, he is going to prep something for Noah. And Paige hops in, so with Rose, four of them drive to the old power plants.

When stepping out of the car, Rey goes to the truck and throws a big bag to her back. Paige, Rose, and Noah on the other side of the car. She walks to them as nothing happened.

Once they walk inside the power plant, Rey gets that dangerous feeling again. She pushes away the other three and ducks down. And she was right, cause where they were standing has slices across a fucking big scythe.

Grimm Reapers.

Rey shouts at the other three: "HIDE!"

Paige immediately grabs Rose and Noah and run, Rey, pulls out a hexagonal club-like weapon which wrapped with iron plate and spikes, and hits the one who jumps at her.

That Hässlich screams out as his arm has been crush by the Kanabō. Rey got this little handy weapon from the trailer, at first she thought she couldn't possibly use this heavy war club. But it turns out to become a Grimm also can make someone stronger than ever. So now she is swinging that thing like it weighs nothing.

One is down, but there is another. Rey rolls on the ground when the other scythe is coming at her, and she grabs out a double bolts crossbow and shoots the second Hässlich right in the chest. If she remembers correctly, this crossbow is called Doppelarmbrust, and one arrow is loaded with hellebore extract, and the other with hemlock extract. When the Hässlich drops to the ground, Rey is a little relived, guess those potions not only works on Blutbad.

One is down, but the other one is still trying her even with a broken arm. Rey grabs the scythe from the dead Hässlich and swings at the standing one. 

His head flys away.

Well, that scythe is really sharp.

When Paige comes out, Rey standing there looking a bit lost, Paige is stunned by the scene, she asks Rey in a small voice: "What should we do?"

Rey takes a deep and long breath: "I need to call someone."

She calls Chewie, and surprisingly Finn tags along. They were apparently having a soccer night at Chewie's hut.

Finn, like Paige, is also stunned by the scene: "How did you fight with two freaking reapers?"

"Adrenaline, I guess." Rey looks to Chewbacca, "I can't do this every time. Last time there was one, this time is two, what if next time they send three or even more. It will never end."

"Then we tell them back off." Chewie's voice is hoarse, he grabs up a scythe and cuts off the head from the dead Hässlich who still has one on his dead body.

* * *

When Sal Butrell sees Rey walks, alive and breathing, he stands up and looks at her with disbelief: "You are still alive?"

"Yup, feeling great and lively," Rey smirks.

Butrell grabs on the holding cell bars: "What did you do to those reapers?"

"They got angry so their head rolls," Rey leans forward, "I think you know what happened."

Rey walks out, Butrell drops to the ground in despair.

* * *

“Presents from Eisbibers,” Finn struggles to bring in that large fruit basket inside, "AGAIN."

Rey smiles at him awkwardly yet secretly proud.

After Sal Butrell is arrested and charged with murder, they have been drowned in the hospitality of Eisbibers. Hand-made quilt, fresh vegetables and fruits, and all those lovely baked goods.

And meanwhile, the head of Grimm Reaper who lives in Munich just receives a package from the United States. He opens it and finds a card with writing: "Next time, send your best."

He takes out the card and ice bags on top, panicked by the sight he saw.

Those two Hässlich's heads are placed inside the box.


	11. On the double

Chapter 11 On the double

Kylo Ren walks to the underground parking lot, he pulls out his car keys and was about to unlock it when suddenly a gun was pressed against his lower back and a female voice rang out behind him: "Your Highness, my apologies, I was told to use force if necessary. Knowing you as I do, I found it necessary"

Ren recognizes the gunwoman: "Phasma."

"Mr. Quinn wants to see you," Phasma steps forward a bit, she is an extremely tall woman, even a bit taller than Ren, "and I'm afraid you'll have to drive."

Kylo Ren gets into his car with a deadpan face and Phasma gets into the back seat, Ren didn't even have to look back to know that the gun in her hand hadn't been put down.

Following Phasma's instructions, they arrive at an abandoned parking lot where Domaric Quinn, that bald bastard, is already standing with his cell phone beeping in his hand, Kylo slamming the door shut as he got out of the car, Phasma getting out sharply and continuing to point the gun at Kylo Ren's back.

"Good morning, Your Highness, is everything all right?" Quinn had a faux fake smile on his face.

"It would have been fine if I didn't have a gun pointed at me." Kylo Ren did his best to suppress his anger and replied coldly.

Phasma's voice seems somewhat resigned: "It's nothing personal, Your Highness."

Kylo turns his head and glares at his former subordinate, "But I'm taking it that way."

Phasma bows her head, "No hard feelings, your highness, your privilege."

"Sorry for the blunt force. It is a necessary evil. We couldn't take the chance that you might refuse the invitation." Quinn shrugs, looking over to Kylo Ren, "We've had enough of catching up, it's time to get down to business, after all, my time is very limited."

"What do you want?" Kylo frowns.

"It's not just me, it's the whole order, we're very concerned" Quinn pulls the corners of his lips, "We've been waiting for too long, and yet things are not moving the way that they should be on your side."

He takes two steps forward and gloated as he looks at Kylo Ren, "Now you have two choices, give us the key, or we will take the Grimm and find it ourselves."

"That Grimm just beheaded two Reapers down a while ago, do you think you have the power to take her?" Ren grunts, "Why else do you think I'm being so cautious, or do you really think I'm doing nothing but playing croquet all this time?"

"You always have so many excuses that I'm tired of hearing it," Quinn waves his hand and rolls his eyes, "What we want is answer, is action!"

"Really?" Ren sidelines.

"Then as you wish." Ren suddenly moves, and with a jerk he snatches the gun from Phasma's hand and chokes her on the neck. As soon as the gun reaches his hand, he punches her right in the underside of her sternum, and with the other hand he hits her with the gun directly on the left floating rib. While Phasma hits the ground in pain, he turns around and shot Domaric Quinn right in the head.

Quinn's eyes were wide open when he fell to the ground. Kylo Ren walks over, and rummaging through Quinn’s pockets. He has put his leather gloves on just as he was in the car, so he wasn't worried about leaving prints or anything. Like he anticipated, Quinn had a gun of his own on himself, he takes out the gun and walks back over to Phasma.

"It’s nothing personal," Ren says, looking down at Phasma.

Phasma laughs out a bit, "But I’m taking it that way, your highness."

"Your privilege." Ren raises Quinn's gun and fires a shot at Phasma.

* * *

Poe arrived on the scene in a well-cut, expensive suit, and Rey and Paige exchanged glances with a gossipy light in their eyes.

"Looks like someone's got a date." Paige couldn't help but flirt and Rey barely held back a laugh.

Poe looks a bit annoyed: "Don't even start, I had a hard time booking that restaurant, but as a result, I couldn't see my date instead I had to come over to see two dead bodies. Just say what you have to say and spit it out."

"Rogered," Paige still somewhat stifles a laugh, "two victims, both with guns in their hands, both dead from gunshot wounds, both with gunpowder on their hands. There's only one car on the scene, so maybe they came together and agreed to have a duel and shot each other dead."

"Whose car is it?" Rey asked, and Poe was circling the small sedan and the dead man at its side.

"Rented, and it was rented by the man, his name is on the contract," Paige gestured to the deceased by the car, "Then came the tricky part, neither of the two was our countrymen. The passports we found on them show that we have one Swiss, and one Brits."

Rey raises an eyebrow. "And what? They were too bored and have nothing to do so they come all the way from Europe just to duel here in the United States?"

Paige shrugs, "you never know."

Poe yells: "Get me an evidence bag." Rey hurriedly walks over and hands over an evidence bag, Poe sprawls on the floor, his hand holding the evidence bag is trying desperately to pull something and really didn't care how expensive the suit he is wearing is.

"GOT IT! " Poe climbs to his feet with an old-fashioned flip phone in the evidence bag in his hand.

* * *

Rey and Poe ended up settling for dinner at the precinct, the high-end steak was a no-go, but the beef burger combo came with two. According to immigration documents, their double homicide victims, Swiss man Domaric Quinn and Englishwoman Phasma Christie, arrived in Portland on the same flight from Zurich which landed this morning. The guns they had in their hands were their own and had been shown at the airport checking before boarding.

Captain Ren walked over, and the two silently put down the report and the burger in their hands and Rey hurriedly pushes the food in. Ren wasn't about to come over and accuse his subordinate of eating in the work area, he asks: "Any progress on this double homicide case?"

"The two flew in together and got off the plane together. According to the video from the rental, it was Phasma Christie who rented the car, only it was Domarie Quinn who signed the rental agreement and Phasma Christie who drove away."Poe managed to swallow his hamburger, almost choked on it, "so obviously they drove together to the abandoned parking lot."

"Unless there was supposed to be a second car at the scene, only and somebody drove away." Rey proposed.

Ren's heart tightens, but he calmly pretends that nothing had happened: “So you are saying, there was a third man? Got any evidence?"

Rey shakes her head, "Not at the moment, just a theory."

"Could have been a business dispute that got out of hand that ended in a gunfight." Ren commented, "can you tie them to anybody here?"

"We did find an old cell phone underneath the car," Poe held up the evidence bag, Ren's pupils narrow, "It probably has fallen out of Domaric Quinn's pocket when he hit the ground, it was fell a little too hard and we haven't been able to turn it on., we'll send it to the lab later for them to check."

"Good, keep me advised." Ren walked away from their desk and glances one more time on the same phone.

Shit, he should have searched a little harder.

"It's late and I'm so sleepy, maybe we can do it tomorrow." Poe looks over to Rey with a face saying that he really wants to go home and sleep.

Rey smiles, "Fine, you go ahead. I'll take the phone to Evidence. "

Poe grabs his jacket, pats his partner on the shoulder, just about to slip away, when Paige approached him with a serious look on her face: "There was a notice from the Trapper Creek Grove, a lady had called 911 about a break-and-enter, and before she could finish her sentence she screamed, so 911 has sent a patrolman to the scene and he found two dead bodies, so let's go and take a look."

"Another double homicide?" Rey's incredulous, and Poe is speechless. They have no choices but bitterly followed Paige to the new crime scene.

Someone took the opportunity to take away the evidence bag that contained the old cell phone on their table.

* * *

The cabin in front of them was so warmly decorated and so homely that it would have been on the cover of a home magazine in a minute if not for the two bodies lying in a pool of blood on the floor. Poe and Rey couldn't help but frown when they arrived at the scene, again a double homicide, which was far bloodier than the one they'd dealt with in the late afternoon.

"Ed and Lois Weller, married for 26 years, no children," the patrolman who first arrived on the scene reporting to them, "Ed here is a lumber exec, recently took early retirement."

"It was clearly not the retirement plan he had in mind." Poe looked over at Ed's collapsed body by the door and frowned.

Rey half crouches down to look at the wound, "This doesn't look like a knife wound, more like he was ripped open."

"That's too savage for a home invasion," Poe also scoots over to look, "Is the suspect high?"

Paige just happened to walk over, "No one knows if the suspect's high or not, but we got lots of prints and techs even found one partial in blood, the forensics department is going crazy right now."

Rey walks inside the house, Lois's body is next to the phone, her hand still clutching the receiver, her fatal wound in the neck, also ripped.

She turns her head and sees a raw steak lying on the floor: "This steak looks like someone was gnawing on it."

"Animal could've gotten in here after?" Poe follows, "The patrolman said the door was open when they came over."

"Then why would it leave the steak behind?" Rey looks back at Poe.

Poe feels a little creeped out: "You mean the suspect gnawed on it?" He looked at the steak, "it is a great steak, but it's all raw."

"Did you just say the suspect may have been high, could have been a side effect." Rey shrugs and looks towards the door, she noticed lots of horse trails outside the doorway when she arrived at the scene.

"How can there be so many hoofprints?" Rey glows her flashlight and walks toward the woods, Poe following behind her: "That's usual, there's a lot of people raising horses here."

"But Ed and Lois don’t," Rey turns her head and points her flashlight toward the cabin, "there is no barn and no horse."

"So what are these horses running on private property for?" Poe is a little confused.

"There are drag marks here," Rey looks to the ground, "rows of them."

"A rake, maybe?" Poe steps forward.

Rey half crouches down: "Or something clawing at the ground." She shoves the flashlight into Poe's hand and pulls out an evidence bag over her own hand, picking up a piece of leather with spikes on it.

"What is this? From the saddle?" Rey looks at Poe puzzled.

"You are asking the wrong guy," Poe shrugs, "but it looks pretty medieval."

It was well after midnight when they rush back to the precinct, and it was only when they returned to their table that Rey remembers, "Shit, that cell phone from the parking lot duel, I haven't taken it to the Evidence yet?"

"I'll go," Poe grabs the evidence bag, "then let’s just go home and go to bed early, two double homicides are enough to keep us busy."

Rey nods.

Kylo Ren watches his two right-handed subordinates walk out of the hall, only then did he walk out of the office. The sim card removed from Domaric Quinn's phone is now in his coat pocket.


	12. Clean as a whistle

"Are Poe Dameron and Rey Kanata at this table?" A black woman in a lab white robe walks to their table, her name tag says Goode, and she has a pile of reports in her hand, "We checked the phone, it was very busted and I thought I'd stop by and bring everything over, just to explain something as well."

"Explain what?" Poe looks up in confusion, and Rey looks up as well.

Goode looked down at the two confused detectives, "The phone is clean as a whistle, nothing to find out, no SIM card, and it has been restored to factory settings."

Then, with a release of her hand, she let the reports hit their desk and walks away.

Rey is shocked: "So there's nothing? No memos, no phone records to check? Why would the victim do this?" She slowly turns to her partner.

Poe grabs the report and scratches his head while reading them, ''Maybe it's because the phone was broken, and the SIM card was just pulled out to put into a new phone? Not many people use these old-fashioned phones these days."

Rey frowns, the pen in her hand spinning fast, she feels like something is amiss. This case struck her as odd from the start, overly clean, from the scene to the evidence, as if everything was staged.

She stands up and walks to Captain's office, hesitated but still reaches out and knocks. The door was open and Ren lifted his head when he heard the knock on the door, Rey walks in and shut the door behind her, "Sir, something that's bothering me about this shooting."

"You find something out?" Kylo Ren puts down the paper he was reading and looks up at Rey.

"That's the weird thing, just the opposite of it, everything is too clean. We found nothing, the SIM card was pulled, the phone was cleared and nothing was found." Rey crosses her hands to her chest with a look of disbelief.

Kylo tugs at his tie, "What do you have in mind?"

"It's just a hunch, personally, kinda my instinct, I think there was a third man, on the scene." Rey let go of his hands and props herself up into a chair, eyes glowing, "He drove a separate car, he could have shot both of them," she said. “He put both of their guns in their hands and then fired that gun and putting powder burns on their hands. Then he took Quinn's phone, pulled the SIM card, cleared the records, and tossed it under the car."

Ren listens quietly, with a calm expression, as if Rey hadn't just gotten almost all the details right. He nods his head and spits out the words with all his self-control: "So that we can't find out anything, preventing us from getting any of Quinn's contacts which might connect us to this third man"

Then he looks to Rey with wondering in his eyes, "any idea how to find out who he is?"

Rey hurried to reply, "I'm still working on it, but I feel like I'm getting really close."

Kylo bows his head down in silence for a moment, and Rey feels something is wrong. Soon, Kylo Ren looks at her, "Kanata, you are a great detective and this is a very good theory."

Rey figures it out. There's got to be a "but. "

"But the families of the of the victims are already on route to claim the bodies, and according to inside sources, turns out these two victims both have very strong political connections back in Europe and their families have no intention of letting us get involved in their affairs."

Rey is a bit angry: "Even if that means the murderer goes free?"

"I'm sorry, I don't like it any more than you do, but there's nothing we can do about it. There are times when the bigger picture is complicated by things beyond our control." Kylo Ren gently continues, "You still have another case to work on. Do it right."

Rey walks out of the Captain's office, sits into her seat, and Poe slid over in his chair with a curious look on his face, "What did the Captain tell you? You look like Shit. "

"We don't need to look into the shooting anymore," Rey said, glancing at Captain's Office. " the family of the deceased intervened to shuns us out, something political." 

"Shit." Poe couldn’t hold back, "Then there's not much we can do about that. Anyway, just looked at the report and we got a hit on one of the bloody prints from the cabin, Dimitri Skontos, three priors for misdemeanor possession, served one year off a cocaine rap, released on probation last month."

Rey takes the report from Poe: "Nothing more violent that possession?"

"Drugs are a slippery slope, in case you didn't know that. I've got registration on Dimitri's car. Put out an APB already." Poe taps her shoulder, "Also, I got in touch with his parole officer, Leo Taymor, and I told him we'd come over for a visit."

"Let's go then."

* * *

Don't know if it's psychological or if it's a really bad environment, but the parole office is so gray and dark and depressing. Leo Taymor leads them both into his own office and speaks with a casual tone: "Dimitri, what's that boy doing? he didn't report this week, I was looking for him."

"We found his fingerprints at the scene of a double homicide," Poe says with a raised eyebrow.

Taymor's expression instantly seemed to be choked up: ''I did not expect that, are you guys sure he did it? It doesn't sound like him..." he looked at the expressionless faces of the two men, his voice fades.

"Do you know where he works?" Rey pulls her notebook.

Taymor nods, "he works for his uncle in the boxing gym at eighth."

Poe said he knew the place. The two of them were about to leave when Taymor suddenly speaks up, "It's a shame, that kid could totally be the next Sugar Ray."

The atmosphere in the gym is heated, A middle-aged man is teaching a young man the basic steps of boxing when Poe and Rey walk in. Poe flashes his badge, asks some questions, and found that the middle-aged man happened to be the uncle of Dimitri Skontos they are looking for. However he also said he hadn't seen him in a while. While Poe is questioning, Rey surveys the area.

A black lad is lifting weights on behind, and he has a rhinoceros head tattooed on his upper arm that flexes with his movement. He pulls up and woges, Rey can see the skin on his cheeks become leathery, and horns sprouting from his forehead and the tip of his nose. He notices that Rey is a Grimm, but instead of panicking like the most of Wesens she'd met before, he leaps at the chance, "Pity, I don't hit women, or I'd really like to see if you Grimm are really that strong."

Rey raises her eyebrows, "I'm not here to fight, I'm here to ask about Dimitri Skontos."

"Haven't seen him in half a month." The black lad said indifferently.

Poe walks over and looks at him, "Where does he usually go?"

The lad grabs a towel and starting wiping his sweat, "We often run laps in that Trapper's Creek Park, I'm going over there today, want me to take you there?" he said it with a look of provocation on his face.

Poe rolls his eyes quietly and Rey almost didn't hold back a laugh, but they nod anyway and take him to that Trapper's Creek Park he was talking about.

"I usually run ten miles, work out for an hour or so, you guys can tag along if you're interested." The black chad stretches and runs off, and Poe looking over his shoulder with rolling eyes.

"Ten miles, how long will it takes for you to do a ten-mile." Rey teases.

Poe snaps back: "Depends on how fast I drive."

"The murder site's only six miles from here, so maybe Dimitri Skontos come from here." Rey pulls out her phone and looks at the map.

"Horse shit."

Rey feels odd: "I am serious, and I thought it was a pretty good theory, where does it shit?"

"I mean, real horse shit, huge dump, multiple piles." Poe points behind her, well, there are indeed several piles of horse shit on the side of the road, some are still fresh.

"Unfortunately, none of this is enough to be used in evidence in court." Thinking of the horse trails found at the murder scene that day, Rey raises her eyebrows, and Poe shrugs, his phone rings so he pulls it out for a look, "Paige found Dimitri Skontos' car in an abandoned warehouse in Linnton."

"Let’s go check it out." Rey takes two steps toward Poe and suddenly remembers, "should we tell that guy?"

"Nah, he's a grown-ass man, he knows his ways, and besides we don’t even know how far he's run." Poe waves and turns back toward his car.

Rey thinks so, follows Poe.

* * *

When the two arrive at the abandoned warehouse Paige was talking about, all they see is a car rack.

Paige wasn't there, but her right-hand man is, and when he saw them arrive, she starts blathering: "The car had been dismantled by the scavengers, the wheels, the mirrors, the stereo, the steering wheel, everything was gone, only the license plate didn't totally screw-down because they bend it while fighting for, so the patrolman found it."

"All that's left of is wreckage, why did you call us over?" Poe looks at him with a sideways glance.

Officer Vincent says with a smirk, "Just waiting for you guys to give it your blessing."

Rey let the two of them bicker away, and as she glances around, still wondering how Dimitri Skontos' car got to this place, she sees a silhouette running away: "Poe, there's a man running, in the back, he just went in that building."

The three of them draw their legs and follow. Rey goes up to the second floor in hot pursuit, but she was soon shaken off. And she notices some liquid in the corridor, so she pulls out her flashlight and looks at it. It is blood. Poe catches up, and his face turns serious when he sees what the flashlight is pointing.

The two walk cautiously towards the front and soon see an empty warehouse with strange characters painted all over the floor and surrounding walls. There is a hexagon-like placemark on the floor, a circle in the middle surround with a row of words.

"These look like Latin." Rey walks over and looks at it, took out her phone and started taking pictures, "It looks like a fighting ring."

"Cockfighting?" Poe quips.

Rey couldn't help but roll her eyes, "Then this chicken is big enough to lose so much blood here."

"And presumably wearing shoes." Poe points to a shoe print on the floor and Rey takes a photo of that too.

Poe surveys the perimeter, "so some underground bare-knuckle fight?"

"Bare-knuckle fights aren't so bloody, are they?" Rey continues to take pictures.

"Maybe they use something more than bare hands." Poe walks up to one of the pillars and Rey follows him over and they find some gruesome weapons, "Flail, morning star, and mace, looks medieval."

Rey nods, "Just like that piece of leather we found at the crime scene."

The two return to the police station and start putting together a mess of photos of the scene, meanwhile, CSI is working on the scene. Poe slumps in his chair: "So we've found an underground fight club, medieval gladiator style. Who would sign up for this shit?"

Rey shakes her head. Poe sits up, he pokes at the picture shown on the screen. "And who the hell fucking speaks Latin nowadays?"

Rey suddenly remembered something, and she gestures for Poe to look toward the Captain's office.

"Scire mori sors prima viris, sed proxima cogi. "Kylo Ren takes one look at the pictures, fluently utters the original Latin sentence, and then quickly gives out the translation, "men's first happiness is to know how to die, his second-- is to be forced to die"

Poe and Rey standing on the side with a look of admiration, and Kylo Ren cleared his throat somewhat awkwardly, "I was at boarding school in Europe when I was little, Latin was sort of a compulsory subject."

"Of course." Poe was not being shady, not at all.

* * *

Leo Taymor gets off work and is about to find his car when he is suddenly cornered by a Land Rover, he curses out with an angry look, but after seeing the man coming down from the driver's seat he replaces it with a flattering smile: "Captain, what problem brings you here."

"You're my problem." Kylo Ren walks over and punches him right in the stomach, Leo Taymor crouches in pain and grunts, Ren is furious and grabs him by his collar, "your little blood sport has gotten out of hand."

"Yes, we had one escape, but we caught him." Leo Taymor smiles.

"After he killed two people." Ren is not in a good mood.

"Nothing in this world is perfect." Leo Taymor’s expression shows that he didn't feel like he has done anything wrong.

Ren narrows his eyes and punches him over again, "You fucked up."

Taymor grits his teeth and says, "The taste of blood will drive someone crazy, you knew it."

"We had an agreement, I'll give you a list with specific names on it, and you were not to deviate from it." Ren let go of him, "Dimitri Skontos was not on that list."

"He's on my list." Taymor leans against the wall, panting.

"You don't have a list." Ren grabs him again with a red glow in his eyes, "there is only my list, in my canton, under my conditions."

"Punks and junkies don't make good fighters." Taymor breaks free as soon as he could, "Where's the sport in that when they don't even know how to die?"

Ren laughs out in exasperation, "So you just picked one of your ex-cons out on parole with family and friends all lives in Portland?"

"He's exceptional, he's won six straight fights and the purse is the largest it's ever been." Taymor's eyes are glowing, "You will get the tribute you deserve, Your Highness."

"I don't care about the money." Ren points a finger at Taymor, tone firm, "Shut it down before your greed and stupidity ruin us both."

"I don't think it's your call anymore, you have no idea how much money is involved." Taymor's face was full of indifference, "Not to mention the fact that things have changed, royalty ain't what it used to be."

Ren has stopped in his already distant steps: "You're right, if it was the old days, I would have had you drawn and quartered."

He turns back with his gun drawn out and pointing to Taymor's head: "Clean this mess up or I'll have to clean you up."

Taymor looks at the muzzle and didn't say anything more, but there wasn't half a flinch in his eyes.

Ren points the gun at him for a moment, then put it back, gets in the driver's seat, and drives off.

Leo Taymar watches him drive away, smiling scornfully, ''You and I are in this together whether you like it or not, you might as well worry about yourself, your highness.”


	13. The game of death

Rey and Finn are at Chewie’s hut right now, it is way cozier than their messy department, plus Chewie can cook. Besides, Rey has relocated all her Grimm heritage to here.

First of all, no one will ever think a Blutbad would have access to Grimm books.

Secondly, no one will dare to mess with a seven feet Blutbad.

Rey has moved everything out of the old trailer, and Chewie has given her a key so she can come in to check things out whenever she likes. Sometimes, Rey feels like she did not just get a new friend, she got a new dad. Which is weird since she really doesn’t have a father figure in her life before.

All three of them are now down in the basement and surrounded by shelves of books, all looking for clues for gladiator Löwen. They have been looking into these things right after she mentioned that she is dealing with a case which involves an ex-con boxer who was on probation gone missing but somehow tied with a double homicide where a couple was ripped open, plus some sort of gladiator combat fight club in an abandon with some weird-ass symbols and Latin lettering and a lion head craved in the middle of the arena. 

“So why is Löwen connected with gladiator again?” Rey holding a book in her hand, confusingly looking at Finn.

“You know the story of Androcles and the Lion? A runaway slave hid into a cave and helped a wounded lion, so when he was cast into the fighting ring to be eaten by wild animals as punishment, he was not eaten because the wild animal in the ring waiting for him actually is the lion he saved, so he was spare due to such miracle? Well, that lion, was actually a Löwen. At least that’s what it is according to our version of the story.” Finn sits on the floor, frowning in all the volumes, “Rose is right, your freakin' Smithsonian of Grimmology needs an index, otherwise, with everything we have here, we are going to waste a lot of time at searching every single bloody time.”

“Wow, someone who never goes to a library knows what Smithsonian is and making up words like Grimmology,” Rey smirks, “someone has been learning a lot from Rose.”

Finn blushes and rarely did not snaps back, Rey can’t help giggling.

“Löwen was king of the jungle but hunted by Romans and were thrown into inside a Colosseum and entertain to see them fight to the death.” Chewbacca’s voice is hoarse and low, “and then fueled by generations of bitterness, they become the host of gladiator ring.”

“Damn...that's not healthy,” Rey is shocked, “will they still hosting these fights today?”

Chewbacca nods.

“Well, fighting for sport isn't unique to Wesen. There are gamblers everywhere. So if someone is paying, I'm sure they would pulling that gladiator crap today.” Finn fills in.  


Rey muses: “If these fights were happening today, how could I find out more about them?” 

Finn shrugs: “I don't know, man. Löwens pretty keep to themselves.” He shakes his head and looks to the books again.

Rey gets a bit discouraged, Chewbacca bumps her shoulder: “I know a bookie, I can ask.” Rey smiles but declines the offer, this is too dangerous for civilian even for Chewie, she goes to the bookie herself but her words are interrupted by an exciting Finn whose finger is pointing to were-lion holding a morning star: “Found it! Löwen! Wow. Can you imagine getting hit with one of these? That's gotta be a bell ringer.”

* * *

Bryan Cooney sure knows what a bell ringer it is, ‘cause he just barely blocks some blows of it with a clipeus. Dimitri Skontos is fully woged, showing his Skalenzahne self and looking just like a stand up human-shape crocodile. There is dried blood in his scales. And Bryan is sure he contributes some new blood to it. This guy is not the Dimitri Skontos he knows, this guy is brutal, savage, and bloodlust. Bryan woges, horns sprouts from his front head and nose. He thrusts forward to his opponents. Dimitri raises a hand and tries to push him down but his palm gets punch through by one of Bryan's horns. He screams in pain, cracks the horns with the morning star he is holding, and smacks Bryan Cooney to the ground.

The crowd growling and yells: “Finish him!”

Bryan tries to get up, but Dimitri steps on his chest. He looks to the side, Leo Taymor is standing there. With a bloodlust smile, Taymor puts his arm inside the fences, fist holding and roars: “Mercy or death!”

“Death! Death! Death!” The crowd cheers. Bryan squirming on the floor in despair. Leo looks to him, eyes flicking with satisfaction, and gives a thumbs down.

Dimitri throws the morning star away, grab a clipeus by both hands, and cuts down Bryan Cooney’s head with it.

* * *

The next day afternoon, Rey and Poe standing in Captain Ren’s office, updating what they have so far.

“Captain, remember all those ancient weapons we found in that warehouse.” Ren nods to Poe’s answer, Poe continues: “The blood results just came out. The blood on the leather strap found at the Weller murder site matches the blood found on a similar piece of leather at the warehouse where we believe the fight was held. It's Dimitri Skontos' blood, our prime suspect in the Weller murders.” 

“Judging by the evidence, we believe someone is hosting an underground fight in that warehouse. And it looks like they're using ancient weapons besides bare hands. And based on the amount of blood, it's pretty brutal.” Rey fills in, can’t stop thinking about those pages about those savage fights she saw last night. 

“And Dimitri Skontos' a boxer,” Poe adds that clue. Ren looks stressed, he pinches the bridge of his nose, frowning at the reports Poe just handed to him: “So how does Dimitri end up in the woods, killing two people? Do we know how this all ties together yet?” 

“Not until we find out who's behind this fight. Right now, we are still trying to track down who owns that warehouse.” Poe answers.

Ren nods: “Good. Keep me posted.”

They were just about to leave, Paige walks in and stops: “Captain, got a line on the owner of that warehouse. Died years ago. The place is in a probate. City's trying to get rid of it, but nobody's taking responsibility.”

Poe sighs with frustration: “Abandoned warehouse. Perfect place for a fight.”

“Did you guys interview a Bryan Cooney in connection with the Weller murders?” Paige turns to him.

“Yeah, we talked to him yesterday at the gym. He was a friend of Dimitri Skontos.” Rey answers.

Paige gives her the report: “Well, a missing person report was filed on Bryan late last night. Last place you saw him was at the gym?”

“No. Forest Park. He was going for a run...” Rey takes the report and frozen for a while when she realizes, “In the last place Dimitri was seen.”

Poe grabs the report and checks on it immediately: “And guess what, Bryan and Dimitri both had the same parole officer, Leo Taymor. "

“That is way over coincidences, I would say,” Ren says with a deadpan face.

Paige’s phone beeps, she looks at it: “Well, Bryan's car was found, it is abandoned by that warehouse where we found Dimitri's car.”

“ Dameron, talk to Taymor again. He might know more than he's telling us. Kanata, follow up on Bryan's car.” Ren orders right away, before all his subordinates walkout, he stops Poe: “Be careful the way you handle this. Taymor works for the department of corrections. So my advice to you, you visit him at home, all right? Let me know what you find out.”

“Roger that, sir.” Poe nods. Rey quirks an eyebrow, she just got a feeling that something is off, she takes an extra look at Ren’s face and walks out behind Poe.

* * *

When Rey gets to the abandoned warehouse, she is greeted by a grunting Officer Vincent: “If I had known they were gonna dump another vehicle, I would've just slept here last night.”

Rey pats his shoulder: “It’s alright, they probably just dumps his car down here to keep us off track. Thought us don’t know he went running in forest park.”

She intends to check out if there are any clues to where the hell did Bryan go, but as she expected, the car is just a distraction. Rey sighs out a long breath, thinking about heading to the park where they last met Bryan and see if she will get more luck there. A call comes in. She grabs her phone out. It is from Finn.

“Finn? What happened?”

“I got a line on the fight. It's tonight.” Finn sounds a little bit too exciting.

“What? How did you know? Where is it?” Rey is full of questions right now.

“Well, Chewie goes and sees the bookie he knows. And he woges into a big bad wolf so the guy is sold and tells him to meet some guy at 6:00. He will call Chewie when he gets the meeting location. I am gonna go with him.” 

Rey snaps: “No, you both are not going. I said that I will go to the bookie myself. This is too dangerous! As soon as you find out where the fight is, call me. I'll take it from there.”

“You don't want us to go?” Finn sounds reluctant, “I did a little boxing in college and army, you know. And Chewie is a great fighter, we will be alright.”

“No.” Rey is stern, and she feels she is moming these two grown-ass guys, “It's just way too dangerous and it is a police matter. So just let me handle it, okay?”

“Okay, fine.” Finn hung up the phone. Rey sighs again, she walks to Vincent and tells him that she is leaving for the forest park, then she hops in her car and drives away.

* * *

Kylo Ren walks in the church, he is not religious and he is certainly not a penitent who came here to ask for forgiveness. He is looking for someone here. A man who wears a dog-collar sees him and approaches.

“Father.” Ren greets him.

The priest bows his head and kneels in one knee, he kisses the signet ring on Ren’s pinky: “Master.” And then after Ren nods, he stands up,

“What brings you to me, Master?” The priest asks reverently.

Ren says calmly: “I have an issue with a fellow parishioner. He has...” He stops a beat, raises his eyes to the statue of The Blessed Virgin Mary: “Lost respect.”

“So we have one who has strayed.” The priest’s tone is a little bit playful.

Ren looks to him: “I'm afraid so.”

“Is he beyond redemption?”The priest looks back into Ren’s eyes.

“He no longer fears the sword...,” Ren’s eyelashes flutter, “Here or hereafter.”

The priest raises his eyebrows: “So he doesn't deserve forgiveness.”

“No. What he deserves is my wrath.” Ren says this, clutches his fist.

The priest nods: “What do you want for him?”

“Torments, destructions,” Ren talks like he is talking about the weather, “and annihilation.”

The priest is a little bit surprised, but still, he nods with obedience: “I will tell Ushar to get ready.”

“Tell him to meet me tonight.” Ren walks out, and the priest looks at his back with wonders in his eyes.

* * *

Rey is deep in the woods now, she is looking for drag marks like those trails she saw at the Weller scene. Her phone rings, it is a miracle that this thing still works up in the hill, she was worried about the signal loss. Rey picks up the phone, it is Finn again.

“Damn, I'm freezing my tail off out here. They tell Chewie to wait off the St. Helen's highway, but nobody's here.” Besides Finn’s whining, there is Chewbacca’s howling.

“ St. Helen's highway? Near Linnton?” Rey gets nervous, “I told you both to back off from this. Wait there, I am going to get you guys.”

“Oh, no, wait a minute. Here comes somebody. Yeah, it looks like a... A truck pulling some kind of horse trailer.” Finn sounds confused.

“A horse trailer?” Rey remember those horse trails, she yells at the phone: “Finn, you and Chewie get out of there right now!”

“Why, I...” Finn’s voice suddenly stops, Rey is worried, she keeps calling out Finn and Chewie’s name but she gets no answer. She opens the setting and try to locate Finn with the “Find My Friends”, but it just shows that Finn’s phone is off the St. Helen's highway and not moving anywhere.

Her gut feeling tells her that something really bad just happens to her best friends.

She walks out of the forest quickly, runs to her car. She gotta find them.

“Mr. Taymor? It's Detective Dameron.” Poe, as Ren instructed, comes to Leo Taymor’s house. He nods on the front door, no one is answering. He checks the house and heard some horse whinnies. He walks to the back, and there are a barn and a small tool house.

He walks to the tool house, knocks on the door. No one is there and the door is unlocked. He pushes the door open, and he sees it is full of medieval weapons, just like the ones he saw in the abandoned warehouse.

“Fuck.” He pulls out his phone and calls Rey.

When Rey answers the call, she just scared the crap out of the bookie that Chewie meets today, that Mauzhertz just tells her everything, why Chewie is taken and where is him now.

“Hey Poe, where are you?” Rey cradles her phone between her neck and her shoulder as she putting a handcuff on that Mauzhertz bookie.

“In a tool house behind Taymor's house. Found some horses and a whole lot of medieval evil weapons.” Poe grunts.

“What about Taymor?” Rey grabs the phone and put it to another ear.

“Not here. Where are you?” Poe asks.

“I'm about three Miles up Jordan creek road at a barn at the end of the road. Just got a lead on a fight tonight.” Rey cuffs the bookie to a window bar.

“How?” Poe is surprised. 

“Uh, a bookie tips in. My guess is, Taymor's there.” Rey hides some details, she doesn’t want to bring up Chewie’s situation.

“I'm coming to you.” Poe answers and Rey tells him before he hung up: “Bring back-up.”

* * *

Just like the bookie confessed, Leo Taymor decides to abducts Chewie because he wants a Blutbad to fight in the ring. And Finn is just an add-on. He still trying to figure what the heck happens even when he and Chewie are both throwing inside in cages: “We were trying to make a bet, man! You got the wrong guy! We are not fighters! What the hell?”

“Shut up!” one of the captors just shouts at him. And he grabs out a scary cow prod and zaps on him.

Finn woges in the pain and the other captor flicks his tongue: “Just a Fuchsbau.” Then he takes the cow prod and zaps Chewie, Chewie howls, and woges. Leo Taymor walks in, happy to see what he got: “Blutbad, yes, just the fighter we need at the ring.”

“I won’t fight.” Chewbacca stares at him.

“We'll find out soon enough once we get you inside of the ring.” Taymor leaves. And those huge guys who captured Finn and Chewbacca walks behind him.

Finn looks to Chewbacca who is in the cage next to him: “I guess Rey was right.”

Chewbacca grunts.

There’s some painful noise coming from the other side, Finn looks over and finds a man with a wounded palm, and it seems something have stuck inside the wound.

“Aw, man, you don't look so good. Are you one of the fighters?” That man just roars at him, Finn shivers a bit and get back, “Take it easy, all right? Your hand. You got something in it, right?”

He slowly approaches: “Let me take a look. Maybe I can help. I was a medic in the army. Let me take a look. I'm not gonna hurt you.”

The man is hesitant but still reaches out. Finn softly grasps his hand and starting checking: “Okay. Oh, buddy, that is nasty.” There is a piece of a black sharp object pierces through his palm and stuck there. Finn really doesn’t know what that is: “No wonder you're a little touchy. All right, now, let me just see if I can get a hold of it.”

He pinches at the top of that thing real tight: “Oh, one quick thing, this is probably gonna hurt!”

He pulls that thing out as soon as he finishes talking, and that guy roars in pain and woges into a reptile. Finn looks down to the piece he just pulls out, looks like a part of horn: “I really don't want to know how that got in there.”

That reptile guy just clutches to the far side of the cage away from Finn. One of the captors comes back with a bucket in his hand. He starts throwing pieces of raw meat inside each of the cages. When he comes to Chewbacca’s cage, he throws in a big one but Chewie just kicks that away.

Finn doesn’t want to touch the meat either: “Thanks but I am not really having an appetite, even I am not a vegan like him.” He points to Chewie. And then he kinda lost his words when he gets a better look at the meat: “Wait a minute. What kind of meat...” 

He looks to the side, and the reptile guy is devouring the meat like a starving animal, and that piece he is gnawing has a rhino tattoo on it: “Has a tattoo?”

Finn is scared by the answer he gets.

Shortly after the “dinner” is finished, the reptile man is lead out, then they come to Chewie’s cage: “You are up.”

Chewie howls and Leo Taymor pulls a gun to his head: “You can choose fight, or die.”

Chewie shoots him angry glances, Taymor just smiles and points the gun to Finn’s head: “Or your little friend here dies.”

Finn froze, Chewie looks to him, howls a bit, and unwillingly walks out with them. Finn grabs the cage bar and shouts: “No, Chewie, no!”

After Chewie is pushed inside the ring, the crowd goes nut, and Leo Taymor walks around the ring and shouts in Latin: “Haec Löwen turpis elit! Grata ludos Leo. Hoc vespere... "Sanguinis lavacro" facies maximis... Propugnator Dimitri!(Big surprise! Welcome to Löwen game. Tonight, the "Blood Bath" faces the greatest, Dimitri the fighter!)” He points to Dimitri Skontos.

And then he points to Chewie: “Blutbad!”

The crowd’s screaming is piercing now. Chewie grunts in displease.

Taymor waves: “Arma sumo vestri(Take your weapons)!”

Dimitri picks a morning star and lunges to Chewie.

The fight has begun.

* * *

Rey finally finds the place that bookie Sauly told her, she grabs her guns out, sneaks in from the back and knocks out the guard off with one hit. When she walks inside, she found Finn immediately, but then she quickly realizes she can't open up the cage, she runs back and luckily the keys are on the faint guard.

“Where is Chewie?” Rey asks as she opens the cage.

“They pushed him to the fight, there.” Rey looks to the door that Finn is pointing to, she walks toward and Finn is about to follow her.

“No, you go now, run, this is too dangerous.” Rey snaps at Finn but Finn snaps back: “You said it yourself, it is dangerous, how can I let you go in there alone? Besides, Chewie is there to save my ass.”

“Poe will bring the back-up, all I have to do is to get him some times. I will get Chewie out, now just go.” Rey holds her gun and carefully walks out.

The fight is heated, Chewie is a good fighter indeed but he hasn’t been fighting for years, and the man he is up against is a bloody savage Skalenzahne who is getting more ferocious when he gets hurt.

Chewie is down on the floor, and Dimitri Skontos steps on his chest. Leo Taymor puts his arm inside the fences, fist holding and roars: “Mercy or death!”

“Death! Death! Death! Kill the Blutbad! Kill him! ” The crowd cheers. And Rey slowly approaches from the back of Leo Taymor. When he tries to give out the sign, Rey points the gun to the back of his neck: “ Fight's over. Let him go.”

Taymor turns back and woges, Rey stares into the Löwen’s eyes: “Leo, that's an appropriate name for a Löwen.”

“You're a Grimm. Unbelievable.” Taymor woges back, with fascination in his eyes.

Rey looks inside the ring: “Chewie, get out of there.”

Taymor refutes: “He stays. This is a fight to the death.”

“Yeah? If it is, it's gonna be your death.” Rey is pissed and her finger is now on the trigger.

“Go ahead, shoot.” Taymor leans forward, puts his forehead to the gunpoint, “Today is a good day to die with honor...”

The crowd cheers at his words, he raises his head and glances around: “Amongst my brothers, who won't hesitate to take revenge. The privilege of leaving the Löwen games alive belongs only to the champion. Those are the rules.”

He looks to Rey with provoking written all over his face: “One more step and he dies.”

Chewie howls and tells Rey to go. Dimitri is raising that morning star he is holding.

“Stop it. I'll fight in the Blutbad's place, for both of us.” Rey snaps at Taymor. and as she going to step in, Taymor stops her: “Wait! We don't allow guns.”

He puts out his hand and signals Rey to give up her gun. Rey grasps at her gun: “And why should I trust you?”

“You shouldn't. But you don't really have a choice, do you?” Taymor smirks, “Give me the gun, get in the ring, or the Blutbad dies.” 

Rey stands there for a while, then she clicks the button and lets the magazine fells on the hand of Taymor. Taymor takes it and turns to the audience: “We have a new challenger. And this one is going to be a very special contestant. A Grimm! A lady Grimm!”

The crowd goes crazy as Rey walks into the ring, Chewie gives her an unapproved look. She ignores that and picks a gladius.

And Leo Taymor shouts in Latin that she doesn’t understand, but judging by Dimitri's moves, she guess she need a weapon now, and she just pick a gladius without even thinking.

“Go for his right arm.” Chewbacca is brief on the instruction and he is holding a clipeus. Rey nods and strikes out as Dimitri coming at her.

Aiming for his right arm, Rey gives him a real punch with the handle of the gladius. She has no intention to kill him but she does not want to get killed either. She has gained more strength from becoming a Grimm, but she is not going to let that give her overconfidence. Women are typically weaker on the upper body strength compares to men, that’s what she learns from the academy. She goes low, uses the gladius to slices some wounds on Dimitri’s legs, and gives him some good kicks when he falls to his knee.

And well, sometimes you need to fight dirty. 

Rey takes the chance and kicks Dimitri in the balls. Chewie gives out a big “oof” when he saw it. And the crowd is booing. Dimitri now rolling on the ground in pain, Rey holds on the gladius. 

Leo Taymor puts his arm, looks at Rey, and smirks. He gives a thumbs down. And the crowd raging: “DIE! DIE! DIE!”

Rey realizes what the thumbs down means, that’s Leo Taymor’s death sentences to Dimitri Skontos.

“No.” She refuses, and her gladius is in her hands is pointing to Taymor.

“Yes.” Taymor woges and is going to step inside the ring, and Finn strikes him down with from behind with a mace.

“Finn!” Rey is surprised but then she quickly gets angry, “I told you to go, why don’t you just listen to me?”

“Shouldn’t you be thanking me for giving that bastard a smack on his head?” Finn stands by them, and quickly realize they have been cornered. By the audience.

People are gathering closer and closer, all echoing the same word: “Die! Die! Die!”

“Damn it, they look like raging zombies right now.”Finn holds on to the mace, nervously pacing in the same spot.

“Well, in some senses, they are zombies, cause either they are down or we are. You guys ready?” Rey feels her hands are getting sweaty, but she still firmly grasping that gladius.

Right at the moment, when they think they are going to face the most horrible group fight in their life, Poe and Paige’s voices are loud and clear like a call from heaven: “Portland P.D! Everybody, down on your knees! Get on your knees now! Get out!”

Finn nods and drags Chewie: “I think that’s our call.” They spring out of the ring and gets away. Rey is relieved when she sees them getaway. Poe squeezes through the crowd and gets to her, his eyes are wide open and he gaps over the blood on her. Rey drops the gladius: “Not my blood.”

“Then whose blood it is?” Poe is shocked.

Rey points to the man on the floor: “Dimitri Skontos’s”

Poe looks at the guy and swallows down a gulp: “Is he still alive?”

“Yeah, he's breathing. Where's Taymor?” Rey looks around, he was lying there when Finn stuck him but now the floor is empty.

“Shit, I don't know, didn’t see him.” 

They check out every people in the ring that night but they never find Leo Taymor.

* * *

Leo Taymor gets away right after he heard the police come in, he rushes back to his house, grabs out some hidden money and going to find his girlfriend who lives in Ohio: “Hello? Hey, honey, I'm on my way home. I hope it's not too late. No, no, it's okay. Okay. I'll be home in a few. Love you. Okay.”

He hung up the phone and hear footsteps approaching. He turns around and sees Kylo Ren standing behind him: “I don’t think you will be home anymore.”

Taymor woges: “You did this, and you're going to pay.” He lunges to Ren, claws out with the intention to rip out Ren's throat. But Ren just raises a hand and stops Taymor right in the middle of the air. 

Ren’s eyes are glowing in red: “Sometimes I wonder if you all have forgotten how I get my name.”

He swirls his hand, and Leo Taymor turns around as his hand moves.

Death is standing in front of him, with a mask on his face, and long curved razor-sharp claws.

“Guess you are right, one of us is going to pay.”

Ren let go of his hold. Taymor tries to run away in the second he is free but he just gets drag away. In all the panting, screaming and hissing, Ren leaves as if he has never come here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gosh, I must get too excited and I just realize how many words I got wrong, I have fixed the mistakes now, hopefully I get all of them.
> 
> Kudos and comments are always the best support XD.
> 
> Hopefully, the next chapter will come out sooner...


	14. Boil, boil, toil and trouble

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Capital sentences scene involved, please be aware.

The death chamber had been set up. Deborah Beckett is lying on the gurney with two intravenous catheters attached to her arm, the other ends of the catheters extending behind the curtain, behind which sat an executioner who had just taken out three syringes and placed them on the syringe rack by the side. There is also a one-way mirror in the death chamber, and behind the mirror is the witness room, where the execution witnesses are already seated. All held their breath, waiting for the warden to give the final instructions.

"Any last words?" The guard looks down at Deborah Beckett, who is emaciated.

Deborah Beckett shakes her head.

The warden looks to his wristwatch, the minute hand moving slowly, and finally, it points to the position of 12. It is 7 o'clock. He gives his orders.

There was nothing thrilling about it, the executioner takes down the three syringes one by one and in turn injected the agent inside into the IV catheters attached to Deborah Beckett's arm.

One shot of pentobarbital, which induces unconsciousness.

One shot of pancuronium bromide, which stops breathing.

One shot of potassium chloride, which rests the heartbeat.

The warden looks to the heart rate monitor, the wave line slows down, then drops and flattens with a beep.

A coroner comes forward, checks the vital signs, confirms them and turns to give the warden a nod.

The warden nods and turns to the one-way mirror to announce, "Time of death, 7:10."

The crowd in the witness room left as the staff guided them away. On the way out, several people went to the bathroom. The two male reporters who had gone to the bathroom together were apparently old acquaintances, and they chatted quite happily.

"That was a textbook execution, quick and calm, and no mess."

"Yeah, which state was it last time, the one with the wrong drug or the wrong dose, the prisoner struggled for over half an hour before he died."

"Oklahoma, right? That one was a real mess."

The two men walk out of the bathroom together. Jel Jerrods walks out of the stall with a blank expression, but his eyes are flaring with hatred.

Quick.

Calm.

No mess.

And yet his Jul was dying of bee venom, breathing hard, body swollen and die without dignity.

How did she get to die so comfortably?

Woge into his biest self, Jel Jerrords hisses, shattering all the mirrors and light bulbs in the bathroom.

No, it wasn't enough, her death alone is not enough.  


* * *

  
"Rey, someone's here to see you." Paige walks over.

Rey, who was engrossed in writing her report, looks up in bewilderment, "Who?"

"A Melissa Beckett." Paige points behind her and Rey peers over and sees a petite woman with brown hair and an unfamiliar face.

Rey stands up and walks over to her, "Hello, and you are?"

"Detective Kanata, right?" the woman holds out her hand, which Rey subconsciously shakes, and then she notices the supposedly fair and slender hands are now covered with thick black fuzzes and bee stings, and Rey looks up to see a pair of blue compound eyes. The petite woman's chin turns into a pair of hinged articulated jaws, they move gently as she speaks: "I am Deborah Beckett's daughter. May I speak to you in private?"

They ended up in a small diner near the police station, both somewhat awkwardly at a loss of words.

"My mother, she's been executed." Melissa Beckett stares at her coffee.

Rey is kinda uncomfortable, "I'm sorry for your loss." She knew this, someone from Coffee Creek Correctional Facility had contacted her before the execution, asking if she would like to attend Deborah Beckett's execution, which she has turned down. Even though she was bore-to-bone at that time because the captain had suspended her from duty for recklessness and going into an underground cage fight without backup, she wasn't comfortable watching people die in front of her.

"It's all right, detective, I didn't come here today to make any accusations." Melissa smiles and looks up to meet Rey's eyes, "My mother did do something wrong, so to speak, she got what she deserved. I am here because I want to maintain the relationship between Mellifers and Grimm."

Rey didn't answer, confusion showing in her eyes.

Melissa explains, "Since time immemorial, we Mellifers have played the role of diplomats and clarions in Wesen society. The relationship between our pack and Grimm has always been good, and I hope to maintain that rapport when I return to take over the swarm."

"Take over the swarm?" Rey frowns.

Melissa nods, "The elders called me back. After my mother died, there was no new queen and no leader. So they asked me to come back.."

"You're a Mellischwuler?" Rey now is even more confused, "Did you become a Mellischwuler after your mother died?"

"That's not how the queen of Mellifers work, although mostly the role is passed down from mother to daughter, and when the mother dies, the daughter will turn and succeed to the throne, but there are emergencies. Like, me." Melissa dropped her eyes, as if recalling something, "I became a Mellischwuler five years ago after I had a huge fight with my mother."

Her smile a little forced, "My mother was a very conservative person, she said that a hive couldn't have two queens at the same time, so I left with a small group from the old swarm."

"So you're now taking the swarm with you, and moving back?" Rey quickly changes the subject, before the tears fell from the woman in front of her.

Melissa nods, "I let the swarm choose for themselves, they could have chosen to join the local swarm over there in California. Or migrate back to Portland with me. More than half of my mate's swarm and mine came with us."

"Your mate's swarm?" Rey is a bit surprised.

Melissa touches the wedding ring on her left ring finger and with a loving expression: "Mischa is also a queen bee and she's also one of the reasons why I left."

Then she looked up at Rey, "I learned, shortly after I came back, that you are a different kind of Grimm. You don't shoot first and then ask questions, you ask questions and then let go, more like a catch and release type."

Rey laughs dryly.

"Unlike my mother, I'm not interested in some 'tradition', I just want to take care of my swarm and nurture it properly, and reopen the sugar factory." Melissa's words are sincere, "I'll stick to my duties."

Rey nods, "That's good."

"Beware of cat." Without any more clues, Melissa gets up and leaves, Rey watches her walk out of the diner as Melissa walks into a hug with a tall blonde woman who looked like of Eastern European ethnicity.

Beware of cat? Rey finishes the last bit of coffee in her mug, confused as hell.  


* * *

  
"Where is Jerrods? He didn't come to work today?" Armitage Hux looks at the empty work desk and furrows his brow, "No, that desk is too clean. "

"Him, huh?" Hux's assistant thought for a moment, "He resigned, I think."

"Resigned?" Armitage raises an eyebrow, "Didn't see that coming."

He didn't think much of it and went into his office.

Meanwhile, Jel Jerrods is standing in his kitchen. The kitchen smelled of garlic and celery, but he wasn't cooking any food. Jel Jerrods picks up the lid of the pot, the garlic bulb had been melted after being boiled for a good 18 hours. He turns off the heat and takes the pot off the stove and set it aside to cool. Then he opens the overhead cupboard and takes out a small glass jar and a coffee bean grinder. There's a whole Ceylon cinnamon stick inside the jar. Jel tasks out the cinnamon stick, throws it into the grinder and breaks it into powder.

A silver Egyptian Mau sits in the doorway, looking at him quietly with its head tilted.

"Soon, Majique," Jel crouches down and pet the Egyptian Mau's head, and the cat purred.

The potion now almost cools to room temperature, and Jel carefully spoons a bit of cinnamon powder into it, he woges and stirred carefully. The liquid with a bunch of strange ingredients gradually clarifying and finally becoming transparent and colorless.

Jel shifts back into his human form and spoons a spoonful of that now colorless liquid into a bowl of goat milk he puts on the counter, and stir the milk carefully.

He places that bowl of goat milk on the floor and Majique gracefully walks over to it and slowly laps it up.

"That's a good girl." Jel crouches, watching quietly as his late wife's cat finishes the bowl of milk laced with magic potion.  


* * *

  
It's a beautiful morning, Rey walks to her desk with her coffee on hand, flops into a chair and slides into the table, then felt as if she had kicked something. Frowning in confusion, she looks down quizzically at a cage that had somehow been placed under her desk.

She bent over to pick up the cage and put it on the table. There is a beautiful silver cat in the cage. Rey becomes even more confused, and before she knew it, the cat bursts through the cage door. She subconsciously raises her hand in front of her face to block it, and the cat scratches her hard.

"Ouch!"

By the time she retrieves her hand to check for injuries, the cat was gone, leaving an empty cage on her desktop.

"Holy shit." Poe, caught off guard by all of this as well, runs off to find the first aid kit for Rey to start cleaning up. Because he was such a klutz, Paige, who was passing by, just takes over. She hauls Rey up and drags her to the ladies' room, running water over the wound and sputtering as she checks on it, "That cat is so crazy and could have infected you with multiple diseases by now, you really need to find somewhere to get vaccinated. Tetanus, rabies, and maybe some antibiotics, cat-claw fever is no joke."

"I know, I know, I'll find out where to get so many vaccinations later," Rey says with a laugh. Paige rolls her eyes.

"There's no antibiotic ointment to put on it now, so just hang a piece of gauze." Paige slaps the gauze over the cat scratch and Rey fakes a howl. They mess around a bit more and each went back to their work stations.

Poe is still a bit worried when Rey sits down. "It's okay, it's just a little scratch, " Rey tells him, show her patched hand to him, "There's still a ton of reports left to write. I'll stop by the clinic when I get off work."

The morning's little hiccup is over, and the cat cage is put to one side of the desk by Rey, who quickly forgets about the scratching and becomes so engrossed in the report that she even settled for a casual sandwich for lunch.

A little after three in the afternoon, she now is standing in Ren's office with a report on her hands, listening to her boss for the hundredth time, dejectedly talking about her disregard for her own safety and how there were a bunch of spelling mistakes on the report. Well, the spelling mistakes were the fault of Poe, he was well-intentioned and just tries to help, but no spelling check can help him for god's sake. But in the spirit of camaraderie, Rey refrains from telling her boss that her partner had made a bunch of spelling mistakes because he was writing the report for her.

But little by little, Rey fells wrong.

Captain Ren's voice seemed to grow further and further away, and the pattern on the carpet seemed to be getting more and more enchanting. Her legs go weak and she reaches out and grabs the back of a nearby chair, then she looks at the gauze on her hand and remembers what Melissa had said the day at the diner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. All the details of the capital sentence scene including the time, the setup and three drugs' name are from the details revealed by Oregon gov, they got a page to disclose these info: [Oregon Death Penalty](https://www.oregon.gov/doc/about/Pages/oregon-death-penalty.aspx)  
> 2\. About the botched execution mentions by those two nosy journalists, it is from [Execution of Clayton Lockett](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Execution_of_Clayton_Lockett)  
> 3\. All the names of the Mellischwulers showed up in this fanfic, Debroah, Melissa, and Mischa have origins or meaning of honey or bees.  
> 4\. Egyptian Mau is a gorgeous breed, and the silver ones are absolutely stunning. They will bound to their owners with deep affection and they can be mean to strangers. A little complaint on Grimm for its plot's consistency, in the episode Love Sick, Adalind has told Juliett she got an Egyptian Mau, but then in the Woman in Black, the cat Adalind bought to the clinic to scratch Juliett is probably a Burmese cat but definitely not an Egyptian Mau  
> 5\. If you got scratched by a stray cat, it is possible you will need tetanus and rabies shot judging by your own vaccination status and the wound status. But if you like me is a cat owner, well we probably all get used to bite marks and scratches. To be honest, I always forget to trim my cat's nails until I got search by her again.


	15. Purest Heart among them all

"What the hell happened?" Kylo Ren standing outside the emergency room, his brows furrows.

Poe, who stands next to him, looks worried and confused: "Nothing much happened today, except she came in this morning and got scratched by the cat, and then there was nothing wrong with her."

"Cat Scratch?" Kylo turns to Poe when he heard, "How did she get scratch by a cat?"

"There was a cat cage stuck under her desk, and she didn't think anything of it, she picked it up and looked at it, and the cage door was probably loose or something, and that cat just rushed out and got her," Poe recalls.

"Where is the cat?" Kylo asks quickly.

"Gone, long gone by the time we came to realize what happened." Poe is a little overwhelmed.

Kylo Ren looks back at the unconscious Rey lying in the hospital bed and gives out decisive order, "Check the surveillance footage. And see who put that cat cage under Kanata's desk."

Because it had happened just this morning, the control room quickly sends over footage from this morning and last night. A man in a janitorial outfit was cleaning the homicide office bullpen and he stuffed a cage under Rey's desk, then pushing the tool cart away and leave.

"Wait a minute, zoom in on his face." Poe thinks that the man is kinda familiar, Paige quickly done what he asked, and Poe recognizes the man at once: "Jel Jerrods, the husband of the first victim in the flash mob murders, he almost cried his face out when we went to his law firm to interview him."

"The evidence is solid, I'll call the judge to get a search warrant, Poe and Paige you two get the team ready." With that being said, Kylo Ren walks into his office and pulls out his phone, but instead of calling the judge, he calls Armitage Hux.

"Last night, Jel Jerrods pretended to be a janitor and placed a cat under Kanata's desk. After the cat scratched Kanata this morning, Kanata had just collapsed and was taken to the hospital. Find out what Jel Jerrods did with that cat," Kylo Ren finish the call quickly and calmly, though there was still some buried anxiety in his tone.

Hux is pinching the bridge of his nose hard when he heard all this, "I'm going over to his house."  


* * *

  
"Hurry up, I'm calling the judge to get a search warrant, you have about a half-hour." Kylo then hangs up the phone.

Hux didn't know how many red lights he had run, he didn't take the elevator so he wouldn't be caught on camera. Luckily the apartment of Jerrods’s isn’t high up, it is on the third floor. He goes straight to the corresponding door, woges, and hisses at the lock.

The door opens, and he walks in, immediately he notices a mouth-foaming Jel Jerrods lying dead in the living room already.

"Shit." Hux couldn't help cursing, he didn't bother with the body, he just starts searching quickly. He soon finds a hexenbiest’s book in the kitchen and picks it up when he suddenly heard a "meow".

He turns around and walks into the living room, where he finds a silver Egyptian Mau crouching beside Jel Jerrods' body, meowing and snarling, and her feet seemed to have mud on it. Hux notices the window is open and there are a few muddy cat paw prints on it.

"Majique," remembering his former co-worker's pet’s name, Hux crouches down and holds out a finger for Majique to sniffs, "You have been very bad, you naughty girl."

Seeing that Majique is already more familiar with his scent, Hux grabs the cat and quickly leaves.  


* * *

  
Poe and Paige both look dejected as they return to the station from Jel Jerrods' apartment, and Kylo Ren calmly lets them into his office to begin their report.

"Jel Jerrods is dead, according to the scene it was a suicide by poison, the M.E. is looking into the exact cause of death." Poe lets out a sigh.

"No cat was found at the scene, we brought the cat bowl and litter back to the station and going to do a toxicology analysis, hopefully, we can find out if the cat ate or touched anything before scratching Rey," Paige pats Poe on the back and continues.

Ren nods, "Keep digging, and stay close on the forensics process."

"Yes, sir." Saying it in unison, they left Ren's office.

Ren watches as Paige closes the door and then takes out his phone and dials Hux, "Did you find anything?"

Hux is wearing a Bluetooth headset, mixing a pot of white potion as he talking to the phone: "I got Jerrods’ book and his cat. I'm going to test the cat's claws now, and I can probably tell what kind of poison Jerrods used if the potion turns yellow. And if the potion turns green, that Detective Kanata still has a lot of hope to be saved."

"Come on, Majique, good girl." Without hanging up the phone, Hux hunches over and picks up the silvery Egyptian Mau, carefully placing its front paws into the potion.

There is some coloring gradually showing up between the cat's paw crevices, but it wasn't yellow or green.

"Shit." Hux couldn't help but curse.

Ren heard it and frowns, "What happened?"

"This is bad, Your Highness," Hux puts the cat aside, "This is very tricky. How bad do you want that little Grimm to wake up?"  


* * *

  
"What do you mean it is bad?" Kylo Ren, who had rushed to the Hux house after hanging up the phone, is livid. He glares at the Egyptian Mau licking her fur in the corner, but the cat didn't budge and even licked more happily.

"Jel Jerrods used the L'esprit ailleurs,” and Hux moves to block Ren's murderous glare, “It's also known as the Sleeping Beauty Potion, it's given to a cat, then the person who scratched by the cat will fall into a coma and lose their memory. After all the memory of the person is gone, they will struggle painfully and die."

Ren's eyes glowing in red, "Is there an antidote?"

"Yes, but I need some time to make it," Hux pulls out a small glass vial, "This is a potion to alleviate the memory loss, it is a lucky coincidence that I have a bottle in stock here, otherwise it would take me 16 hours to cook it. But this stuff only suspends the memory-loss, it doesn't wake her up."

Ren takes the small brown vial, "How to use it."

"Eight drops in each eye, the quicker the better, with every passing moment, more of her memory will be lost," Hux instructs.

"I'm going to the hospital now, let me know when the antidote is ready." Said Ren as he strides off.

Hux waits till Ren is out of the door, he walks to the corner and starts stroking the cat, "Majique, he doesn't know how the antidote is going to work. " He takes the cat into his arms and buried his face on its fluffy body, "I'm afraid your master has forgotten that this one, though not a pureblood, is still a prince."  


* * *

  
Kylo drives quickly to the hospital and heads straight to the ICU. He was about to walk into the room when he heard a familiar voice and stops at the door.

Chewie is sitting by Ren's bedside, mournfully whispering, howling.

Ren understands, he is calling Rey pup.

He used to call him that, too.

When Chewie is ready to come out, Ren suddenly gets flustered and ducks into the next ward, peering through the door to make sure that Chewie has left. He quickly enters Rey's room, gently opens her eyelids, and drips the drops into her now all-black colleagues.

Once the drops are done, Ren puts the empty vial in the inside pocket of his coat and quietly leaves.  


* * *

  
"2 bulbs of hemlock root, yes. Pinch of Myrrh resin, yes. Several clumps of Gum arabic, yes. Lausenschlange oil, yes, but there is probably no six ounces here." Hux shakes the brown bottle in his hand and added Lausenschlange oil to the shopping list. "Handful of Mullein, yes. But this one is going to be tricky.” Shaking his head, Hux writes "Pseudomonas aeruginosa" down on the list. Straightening up and taking the piece of paper, Hux goes out to make some purchases.

Portland is a big city, but there aren't many places that sell Lausenschlange oil as well as Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Hux went to two different stores but was no luck. So the final option is going in The Seventh herb and spice shop.

He sits in the car and struggles a bit, but finally steps out the door.

The welcome bell rings as he opens the door to the shop and Finn looks up, "Welcome, how may I help you?"

"Hello, do you have any of these? " Hux smiles and hands out a piece of paper, pretending that he had no idea that the man in front of him was that Detective Grimm's roommate or himself did not run any background check on this man.

"Six ounces of Lausenschlange oil, and a vial of Pseudomonas aeruginosa?" Finn frowned at the materials written on the paper, "Lausenschlange oil is available, but I'd have to check the inventory to see if we got any Pseudomonas aeruginosa."

"Thank you." Hux keeps smiling.

Finn quickly found the Lausenschlange oil and placed it on the counter before making a trip to the warehouse.

"Phew, you're in luck. This is our last bottle in stock." Finn carefully places the vial on the table, "What are you going to do with this? This stuff can be dangerous."

"Family recipe." Hux smirks, his eyes grow cold.

Finn senses a murderous streak and swallows, "That'll be $300, thank you."

Hux takes out three large bills and tosses them to the counter, it is an emergency, so he didn't bother haggling, he takes all the stuff and left.

The door opens, the bell rings again, and the man is gone. Finn breaths out a sigh of relief.  


* * *

  
The world always had a certain stereotype thinking about witches or wizards, like riding brooms, keeping black cats as pets, mumbling with Wands, and boiling potions in cauldrons. Hux will roll his eyes if any of these theories are mentioned before him. Well, they do cook potions, but not necessarily with the cauldron, a small pot will work just fine. After all, this is the cheapest pot in his kitchen. He wouldn't stain his Le Creuset to cook this pot of stuff in front of him.

The pile of mixture in the pot is boiling by now, he takes out the bottle of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, opens it, carries it in his left hand, and carefully stirs it as he drips it in. Once the potion had turned pale pink, he quickly sets the vial aside, throws the mullein and gum arabic into it, and continues to stir it up until the potion is now thickened and coagulates. Then he quickly removes it from the heat and pours into a glass jar and seals it.

Then he takes out the phone and calls Ren, "Your Highness, the potion is ready."

"I'll be right over," Ren answered crisply, and Hux only hoping that he would also be so crisp after he knows the instructions to save that Grimm.

"How am I going to get this down Kanata’s throat." Ren looks at the bottle of thick and clumping potion and furrows his brows.

Hux smiles dryly, "It's not for her, it's for you."

Ren stares up at him and Hux summons the courage to quickly explain, "This potion is called Sleeping Beauty Potion for a reason, A kiss from an adult royal with a pure heart can wake Sleeping Beauty from her dreams. It's just that it's almost impossible to find a pure heart these days, so we'll have to do it a little chemical manipulation. This is a purification potion. Drink at one go and bottles, when it takes effect, go kiss the Sleeping Beauty within 24 hours and she will be awake."

Ren stares at the magic potion in his hand for a moment of silence, "How do we know if it worked?"

"The purification process is very...perceptible, and the more impure the mind, the longer the purification will be." Hux gulps.

Ren gives him a look, takes the potion, and walks away.

Sensing that Ren had left, Majique comes out of the bedroom and rubs herself against Hux's leg.

Hux picks the cat up and rubs his face against the fluffy, silky fur, "Majique, I just hope he doesn't have the strength to come back and kill me after he drinks the damn thing. "


	16. Your love will kill me

Kylo Ren returns home, he stands in the entranceway, frowning in disgust at the bottle of thick and sticky white magic potion. He opens the jar disapprovingly, drinks the whole thing in one gulp. This magic potion does not have any weird taste, that's great. And Kylo did not feel anything after drinking it.

That's it?

Kylo put the jar down on the nearby counter and walks towards the living room while taking off his coat. Suddenly the pain hit him and he collapses on the ground in pain with a half de-dress coat on.

He gasps for air, feeling as if he has walked into a furnace, and every inch of his skin is burned by the fire. He struggles to hold the armrest of the couch and try to get up but soon falls back to the ground in pain, knocking over the coffee table as he fell. All the things crash to the ground with a clatter.

Kylo's expression is now full of pain and struggle, unable to control himself as he woges into his biest self, half of his face now is covered corpse-like dried tissue, and his eye sockets glistening with blood-like redness.

It was so hot, so hot that he tears off all his clothes, but his naked chest, though exposed to the air, didn't get any cooler.

Soon in the pain, he sinks to the floor, twitching, and squirming. Suddenly he arches his back and his whole body turns into crimson red like boiled shrimp and crab, then he snaps back to the ground, shuddering and jerking. Some black smoke comes out of his mouth and nose.

The next thing he knows, he's rolling his eyes, and he's passed out.  


* * *

  
When Kylo Ren wakes up again, it was after four o'clock in the morning. He stands up and eyeing the mess in the living room. Shrugging it off, he walks into his room to quickly change his clothes. Then when he passed by the cabinet in the entryway to pick up his keys, he finds the potion jar, which is empty by now. He picks it up and slams it against the living room wall.

The glass shatters everywhere and he grabs his keys and gets out the door.

By the time Kylo gets to the hospital, it is already five o'clock in the morning, and the sky in the distance has faded from the deep night, but it hadn't lightened up yet. Kylo makes a beeline to Rey's hospital room. The said detective lay quietly in her own hospital bed with several tubes attached to her body, breathing calmly, eyes closed as if she is just sleeping.

Kylo walks over to the bed and kisses her on the lips gently.

"Wake up." Standing up, Kylo says so and as he notices Rey's eyelashes start fluttering, he walks away quickly.

Fluttering her eyelashes, Rey slowly opens her eyes, and in her confusion, she only sees a flash of a black coat.  


* * *

  
Finn rushes to the hospital as soon as he heard Rey had woken up, and the first thing he did when he gets into the room is to hug Rey and cried: "Fuck, you're scaring the shit out of me." Rey's laughter was muffled a bit by his chest. He lets go of Rey but finds Rey looking at him with a confused look on her face. Though her abyssal black eyes, Finn found himself a bit out of control, slightly woged. He quickly reins it in, "What? I just get a little excited? It's not like you haven't seen it before."

"When did you get all hairy when you got excited? And it looked a bit like a... fox?" Rey still looks like she has got no clues.

Finn freezes: "You don't remember?"

"Don't remember what?" Rey looks at Finn, cluelessly, she feels like she has probably just hallucinated, how could Finn turn into a fox?

"You're a Grimm, okay? You can see Wesen? Maz has told you about it?" Finn askes a triplet of questions in shock.

Rey frowns: "You mean the Grimm Brothers from Grimm's Fairy Tales? What's Wesson though? And Maz went on a cruise around the world after she retired, when did she ever tell me that?"

Finn stiffens, as did Chewie, who was standing in the doorway holding flowers.

"Rey," Finn swallows and managed to speaks, "You probably have amnesia."

Rey lets out a disbelieving "Huh?".

Chewie walks into the room and set the flowers aside and says slowly in a low, husky voice, "Pup, Maz's been dead for over six months. "

Rey looks at the strange, tall man, then at Finn, and says incredulously, "You guys, what are you talking about? "  


* * *

  
Rey sits in front of Maz's tombstone with tears in her eyes, her heart felt like it had collapsed a bit as she lifts her hand to touch the picture on the tombstone.

Maz, gone?

And she'd completely forgotten about it.

Chewie stands behind Rey, trying to reach out and pat Rey on the shoulder, reaching halfway out and pulling back.

"Maz left you the trailer, and you've put the books in my basement for safekeeping, so maybe we should check it out. "Chewie hadn't spoken this much in a long time and his throat was getting a little hurt, but he couldn't say it, the girl in front of him had lost all her memories of the past six months about being a Grimm and she had also forgotten him, she couldn't understand his howls now.

Finn gives Chewie a reassuring pat on the shoulder and steps forward to help Rey up.

Chewie's cabin wasn't too far from the cemetery, and the three of them walks a short distance to it.

Once inside the house, Rey didn't recognize any of the furnishings or structures inside, Finn leads her to the basement. She walks down the stairs, gawking at all the books, notepads, and odd bottles and weapons.

"Okay, next, I'm going to give you a crash course in Grimm," Finn says quickly, what a Grimm is, what a Wesen is, what all these records are, what Rey is. when she became a Grimm, Maz being a Grimm, the pile of stuff Maz left her, and when she discovered that many people around are actually wesen.

"So you're a Fuchsbau?" Rey points at Finn, then she points at Chewie, "And you're a Blutbad?"

Rey tilts her head and looks at Chewie in confusion, "And what is your woge like?"

Chewie looks at Finn, Finn shrugs, Chewie turns his head and sighs, "My woge is.... kind of scary. "

Rey nods, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.

With a howl, Chewie turns into a scary werewolf and Rey widens her eyes, "Wow."

"He has a much cooler woge than you," Rey says to Finn in all seriousness.

Finn rolls his eyes in anger and says, "shut up. "

While Rey is obsessed with going through the Grimm books down in the basement, Finn quietly pulls Chewie out: "I'm going back to the spice shop to look through the herb books my grandmother left behind, and see if there was any kind of memory-restoring potion."

Chewie nods, "You go." He looks back at Rey through the door, "I'll keep an eye on her. "

Finn pats him on the shoulder and saunters up the stairs. Chewie looks again at Rey, who couldn't stop herself from reading, and he decides to cook something delicious, first to feed the two cubs, and then to soothe his own broken heart.  


* * *

  
By the time Chewie's stew is almost done and a hungry Rey follows the scent out of the basement, Finn rushes in with a bottle of potion: "Found it! The Water of Memory!"

"Grandma's inventory is full of surprises." Finn hands the bottle to Rey, who carefully carries the dusty crystal vial and looks inside the suspiciously blue-purple liquid.

She looks at Finn, who looks so excited, and rains on his parade: "Are you sure this is drinkable?"

Finn glares, "Of course, there's only one bottle of this left!"

Rey is hesitant and looks at the bottle again, "Just drink it straight?"

Chewie moves forward and howls to Finn, Finn nods, "I looked it up, it's the ultimate memory recover potion! If this doesn't work..." he looks to Rey, a little stutter, and finishes the words fidgeting, "then we'll just keep looking..."

Rey sighs and she pulls the cork out and drinks it all at once. Chewie and Finn looking at her expectantly.

Rey looks at them innocently, then rolls her eyes and passes out, Chewie catches her quickly.

Chewie howls a little angrily at Finn, who shudders, "it is the normal effect!"

"Could have said it earlier." Chewie is a little speechless, at least let Rey eats dinner first. Chewie carries Rey in a bridal position and carries her up to the guest room. Without looking back, he says to Finn, "No stew for you. "

Finn looks puzzled, "Why? What did I do wrong?"  


* * *

  
Rey felt herself falling into a spiral of memories.

The man and woman whose faces she couldn't see gave her a final hug and said, "Mommy and Daddy will be home soon."

Maz, still young, answered the phone and crouched in front of her, fidgeting long enough to speak, "Rey, your mom, and dad, are gone..."

Then there's moving after moving and all those big leather-bound notebooks in Maz's hands.

The look on Maz's face when she'd chosen to go to the police academy.

When she was a rookie patrol, when she turned officer, when she'd been assigned to the homicide unit.

The time the man had shaken her hand...

Then there were cases after cases, the over-nights spent with Poe, the bickerings with Paige, and the moments of debriefing him on the case...

Then she was determined to take the detective's exam, and when she became obsessed with the exam and couldn't help herself, his encouragement...

He's the one who gave her the good news.

Then there are the celebratory but non-alcoholic drinks at the bar, Maz who suddenly showed up at the door, the Hasslich who jumps out with a scythe, the hexenbists' swollen bodies because of apitoxin the queen bee who was holding a weapon yet says it's "for your own good", the eisbers who vote en masse, the bloody Lowen colosseum... The faces of the wesens are flashing and jumping one by one.

And then there was him, in his arms.

Rey snaps her eyes open and she remembers.

All the lost memories, and him.  


* * *

  
"Are you sure you want to go back to work now?" Finn hands Rey her coffee and looks worried, "You've only just been released from the hospital, you've just regained your memory, and even your Captain has said that you can rest for a few more days."

Your Captain, Rey shudders a little at those words. Pretending nothing wrong happened, she takes the thermos full of coffee and smiles cheerfully, "There's nothing to do at home so I might as well go back to the station, Paige said she'd stop by and give me a ride to work."

She turns briskly and waves casually to the back, "I'm heading out."

Before Finn could get back to her, Rey opens the door and runs briskly out.

Finn tsks, "Woman."  


* * *

  
Kylo Ren has never been so out of it before, he couldn't help but looks up out the window from time to time.

Rey is back, she'd just gotten out of the hospital, so Kylo's only got her on desk duty. She's sitting in front of her computer right now, probably writing a report.

That's right, reports, Ren flicks her head back and looks at his computer screen. His pupils widen as he finds the page he was writing is full of words.

Every line, all over the page, it is Rey's name.

She shouldn't have been in such a hurry to get back to work, Rey bites her lower lip.

Everyone in the station was gone, and she was the only one still sitting in the bullpen.

He is still there, too, the lights are still on in the Captain's office.

What is she doing? He is her boss.

But how come she'd never noticed him before... as...

The door to the captain's office opens, and Kylo Ren, who is looking slightly tired, was about to put on his coat and leave when he noticed Rey looking at him, flabbergasts.

Mesmerizing.

They think about it at the same time.

In the end, it was not clear what was going on. Kylo Ren offered to give Rey a ride home and Rey agreed. Then they rode the elevator together and walked together to where Rey lived.

The moment the door closed, they kissed each other.

Then there is a crisp slap, a slap stamps over Ren's face.

But Ren just kisses back more fiercely, then pushes Rey away harder.

And then the kiss again.

And then fighting again.

They kiss and fight with increasing force, and it is out of control. The coffee table is overturned, the pillows on the couch are torn, the pictures and paintings hanging on the wall are falling all over the place, the entrance and living room becomes a mess from their moves.

Ren chokes Rey by the throat and Rey draws her gun and points it at Ren's heart, and just when it is all about to be too late, Finn's scream wakes them up, "What are you doing!"

Ren lets go and Rey turns around, the gun in her hand pointing unconsciously at Finn. Was standing next to Finn. Rose quickly woges and rushes over, knocking Rey unconscious with a vase she grabbed on the way.

Ren watches Rey fall to the ground and looks vicious as he tries to go over and grabs Rose, then he also gets a direct headbutt from Finn who is still holding the lamp that was used to hit Ren.

Rose and Finn look at each other awkwardly, and there are two fainted adults lying on the floor, and the whole apartment is a mess.

"What the hell is going on here?" Rose murmurs.


	17. Everyone get something to explain

"So the solution you two came up with is to drag me into this? ? ? " Paige glares at her own sister and her sister's boyfriend, her hair is rumpy and she is wearing a set of cartoon pajamas. "these two, one is my best friend and the other is my fucking boss! ! ! Are you guys trying to kill me? "

She points to Rey and Ren, who are still unconscious and strapped to different chairs back to back, and they were brought to the spice shop by the three of them.

Rose said, "sis... " before she could finish her sentence, Paige waves her hand and says angrily, "shut up. "

Right at that moment, Ren slowly wakes up and confusedly mumbles, "Sergeant Tico? "

"Sir, " Paige answers him subconsciously and standing up straight with her head held high.

Ren fell silent for a moment, looking at the twines that bound him, and trying to move his hand but fails: "What happened? "

No one standing dares to answer.

Something worse happened, Rey wakes up.

* * *

Poe Dameron is a rude asshole who dared to light a cigarette with his hella expensive scented candle.

For God's sake, it's a Jonathan Adler.

But he is one sexy rude asshole when he lit that cigarette up.

Hux doesn't know whether he should give the jerk a piece of his mind for misusing his designer scented candles , or just ride him for another round.

Let's just do both together. So he just climbs back to the bed, yanks the cigarette out of Poe's hand, and throw a passionate kiss on those lips. Just when the mood is building up, the phone rang. Neither of them was going to do anything about it at first, but the caller was clearly not going to give up, calling in again and again. Poe, with a whimper, picks it up and struggles to get through. "Who is it? "

A familiar voice on the other end of the line asks quizzically: "Dameron? "

Poe stutters, "Captain? "

Hux stops and when he looks up, he realizes that cell phone that Dameron holding is his.

He grabs the mobile phone: "Sire? "

"Come to the seventh spice shop now, I am afraid that... " Ren paused. "there are some side effects. "

Hux facepalms himself. "Okay, I'm on my way. "

After hanging up, he looks back and finds a frowning, skeptical Poe: "Why is our Captain calling you? "

* * *

Now, the spice shop is full of people standing, well, two of them are tied to chairs, to be exact.

Hux slams his thick-as-hell Zaubertrank recipe book onto the countertop with a bang.

"So these two can't make any types of contact no even eye contact right now, or they'll just go at each others' throats and kiss and fight until they die, " Hux can have a migraine by just combing through all these shit, raising his eyebrows and looking at Ren. "Since when? "

"This morning, Rey... when Kanata came to work. " Ren thinks about it.

Hux looks back at Rey. "What about you? "

Rey murmurs , "last night... "

"So it all started the day after you got out of the hospital, didn't it? " Hux frowns. "Not right after you wake up? "

"Yup. " Rey nods.

Hux turns to Ren. "Have you said any magic words, drunk any potions or touched any magic substances in the last 48 hours? "

Ren shakes his head. "No. "

Hux looks back to Rey, who thought for a moment: "yesterday afternoon, I drank a bottle of potion called... the water of memory? "

Hux takes a deep breath: "water of memory? "

Finn added: "Yeah, because Rey lost half a year of her memory, and then I found a bottle of memory potion at the herb shop, and my grandma left it, and I just... took it to Rey... " Finn's voice trailed off as Hux glared at him, rose took his hand.

"And may I ask you about this magical memory potion, is it green slime-like, black paste-like, or colorless water-like? " Hux smirks, pressing his way forward.

"It's bluish-purple watery, " Rey says, looking up at him and blinks.

Hux is speechless for a moment, he pinches his nose bridge: "blue-purple, water-like, memory potion... mother-fucking 'Reverse Lethe'. "

"So? " Rey asks weakly.

"'Reverse Lethe' is a powerful, once-in-a-lifetime potion to cure all memory loss, " Hux puts down his hand and continues to stare at Finn, "it is so powerful that its side effects are just as powerful, it can really mess up the brain of the person who drinks it. If that person is lucky, then maybe it will just be some dizziness for a couple days. But if the drinker is not so lucky, the consequence could be uncurbable madness. For God's sake, did you do your research before you gave it to her? "

Finn's face turns pale.

"She lost her memory because of 'L'esprit ailleurs' , and she's lucky that she only lost half a year of her memory. Then it is the Heart Purification. Could have cause infatuation symptoms in the first place yet it did not occurs until the stimulation of 'Reverse Lethe'. And since she's a Grimm, the side effects are even more aggressive. Day Two out of the hospital, and they're already killing each other. For fuck's sake..."Hux mumbles, pacing the tiny space in the store.

Then he dashes back to the counter, picks up the recipe book he had brought with him, pulls a small piece of metal from the edge, and slashes his right palm. Poe strides forward and takes Hux's hand immediatly: "What are you doing? " And then he turns to Finn:"Do you have a first-aid kit? "

Finn rushes to the first aid kit, Hux pulls his hand back, gives Poe an eye roll, then hover his slashed hand over the book and drops blood into the pages.

One drop, two drops, three drops... to the sixth drop of blood, the book cracks open.

"Bloody sucker " Hux scolds at the book while give Poe his right hand: "Okay, wrap it. " While Poe and Finn are busy bandaging his hand, Hux flips through the pages to find the recipe he is looking for.

"Found it, 'Infatuation Cure' , " Hux says, flicking his tongue and then barking orders at Finn. "I need 2 bulbs hemlock root, a pinche of Myrrh resin, 6 oz. Lausenschlange oil, a handful of Mullein, 3 oz. Warburgia, 3 oz. Toxicodendron, and some clumps of Kacip fatimah. Chop chop, the sooner they drink this cure the better. Otherwise the side effects are only going to get worse."

"They should all be find in the warehouse, " Finn says, hesitating as he wants to walks away. "Want me to get you a cauldron? "

"No cauldron, " Hux has rolled his eyes too many times that it starts getting him hurt by doing it. "Get me a blender. "

Soon all the ingredients are on the counter top along with a blender. Hux throws in all the hemlock root, Myrrh resin and Lausenschlange oil and start the high gear without blinking. After everything turn to liquid, he switches back to low gear and slowly pours Toxicodendron into it. The liquid in the blender slowly turns red then white, and after it turns white, Hux throws in the rest of the ingredients and switch back to high again. The finished product is white, sticky and with chunks flowing in it, Hux pours it to a tall glass and shoves it to Rey.

Rey and Ren are now unbound, but they are standing back to back without any physical contact to avoid any chances of trigerring the scarring side effects. Rey takes the glass and looks hesitantly at the strange liquid inside.

"Come on, bottoms up, " says Hux impatiently.

Rey, frowning, chugs the potion in one gulp. When she finishes it, she looks at Hux. "Is that it? Has It worked? "

"Not yet. When the potion works, you should have experience what he did, " Hux says, taking the glass into his hands.

Rey is still wondering, "how do I know if it's working... Ugh! " Suddenly a wave of pain hits, Rey falls to the ground.

Ren hears the clash, nods without looking back: "That's it. "

Others and painiking while watching Rey writhe on the ground in pain, but there is really nothing they can do. Soon Rey's face turns red and covers with sweat, some black smoke is coming out of her mouth, then she finally calms down and laying on the ground gasping for air.

Ren is a little surprised to hear the noise stops so quick, but he didn't look back in case the side effects are still there.

"All right, now you can turn back, " Hux motions to Ren. "Now the final step to eliminating the side effects, kiss. "

Rey and Ren stares at Hux at the same time. The others look at Hux and then at Rey and Ren.

Hux is calm: "The Infatuation Cure is only good for two hours, so you can either kiss each other right now, or you can just stands there and waste those two hours. When the cure is no valid any more, there's no one, no cures and no gods or devils can save you two."

Ren and Rey froze when they hear it, then look stiffly at each other.

Rey gritts her teeth and curses something like "screw it", just raises her head and tiptoe to kiss Ren's lips. Ren froze for a moment, then ducks his head and embrace this kiss.

The lips meet for that split second, then quickly parts away, both of them feeling a little embarrassed.

Hux raises his eyebrows in amusement. He clears his throat. "Now, will you look each other in the eye and see if the urge to kill each other is still there? "

Rey and Ren looks at each other's eyes stiffly for a moment, then turns to look at Hux and shake their heads.

"That's it, my job is done. I'm out of here. " Hux turns around, picks up the book and is about to run, but Rey strides to the door and blocks the Zauberbiest from trying to get out.

"Not now. " She looks at Hux, then at Ren. "Not until you two come clean about what you're hiding from us. "

Hux looks stiffly back at Ren, his eyes fill with despair.

* * *

The spice shop is full of sitting people now. Rose, Paige, and Rey are sitting on the couch. Hux is sitting on the rattan couch next to the couch. Poe is sitting next to him. Finn barely fits his hip on the couch handle. Ren sits in an armchair directly across from Hux .

"Everyone just do a little introduction fist, starts with me. I'm a Grimm, " Rey says.

"Eisbiber. " Paige ducks her head, afraids to face the gaze of her boss.

"Eisbiber. " Rose hids her face behind Finn.

"Fuchsbau, " Finn sighs.

"Zauberbiest. " Hux could do nothing but follows.

Then with a confused look on his face, Poe says, "What am I? "

"Normal human, " everyone else say in unison

Poe, with a "ooh, " draws back.

Then the whole room looks at the silent Ren.

Ren hesitates and says slowly, "Hybrid Zauberbiest. "

"Hybrid Zauberbiest? " Rose emerges, "but only hexenbiest or zauberbiest bonds with a royal can reproduce Hybrid Zauberbiest... " Rose's voice trails off in Ren's death stare.

Paige looks up in surprise. "You're THE PRINCE WHO OWNS PORTLAND! "

Everyone looks at Ren in shock. Ren deadpaned, nods and admits: "Yes, Portland is my canton. "

"When did you know I becomes a Grimm? " Rey asks suddenly, a flicker of doubt flys through her eyes.

Ren is feeling a bit of a heartburn. Before this farce, Rey Kanata was one of his most loyal subordinates.

He is silent for a moment, but he is absolutely telling the truth.

Appropriate amount of honesty.

"The time you were attacked by a Hässlich, " he says calmly, looking at Rey. "The sythe was too easy to recognize, it even has Vernichter der Grimms engraved on it. "

There is a moment of silence. At the end, Poe asks weakly, "What does that mean? "

Ren pauses, then realizes that everyone except Hux did not understand what the engravement means. "That's German, " he says, pinching his nose. "It means Annihilators of the Grimms. "

"Oh. " We get it. we get it.

"So you knew him all along, " Rey says, looking at Ren, pointing to Hux. "And you knew he is a zauberbiest all these time? "

Ren looks straight at Rey, he nods.

"At the time of the flash mob murders, you knew it was done by millifer, didn't you? So why didn't you say anything? Why didn't you stop her? " Rey suddenly stands up and speaks angrily.

Ren looks up at her. "We're police officers. We need evidence to make an arrest. "

"If anything, the Mellischwuler started killing the hexenbiest to 'protect the GRIMM, ' " Kylo Ren says without mercy.

Rey flops back on the couch, her head down.

Poe looks at his partner, then looks at his boss, tries to say something, moves his lips a little, but nothing comes out.

"All three of you can have the day off tomorrow if necessary, and I will let human resources know. " Ren looks at his three subordinates, stands up, and adjusta his coat. "I'll leave now. "

And with that, he leaves. Hux watchs his boss walk away and gets up with the book in his arm. He looks at Poe, struggle for a while, but then leaves without saying anything.

When both men are gone, Poe looks over at the four abnormal humans beside him and solemnly asks, "Now does anyone care to explain to me what a Grimm, a Eisbibe, a Fuchsbau, and a Zauberbiest is? "


	18. No where to go

Paige and Finn went into a serious argument about who should woge first to Poe.

"You know him better! You go first!" Paige's face is glowing red with anxiety.

"You knew him earlier! You first!" Finn's eyes widened.

"Enough!" Rey couldn't bear with this endless debate anymore, "Rock Paper Scissor to settle this, who loses go first."

Three rounds of rock-paper-scissors came down and Finn is the loser, he turns around unwillingly with a forlorn look on his face and looks at Poe, "First of all, I am still me."

Poe nods his head looking serious.

Finn tosses his head and transformed into a were-fox, with russet fur covering his entire body.

Poe pauses backward in shock, his eyes widening.

Finn shifts back and motions for Paige to come forward.

Paige reluctantly steps in front of Poe and without saying a word, woges.

Poe looks at her wesen form and couldn't hold back a laugh, "I have noticed you your front teeth looked a little big, and now they are even bigger."

Paige numbly woges back and flicks Poe on his head. Poe rubs his head and looks at Rey, "What about you? Can you shift too?"

Rey shakes her head, "My ability is to see them in their true form when they don't want to be seen by humans."

Poe nods, then after a long silence, asks, "Armi said he was a Zauberbiest, so what is it?"

Rey, Rose, Paige, and Finn looked at each other, unsure of how to speak.

"As fluffy as you guys? Is it bald? Say it." Poe rolls his eyes.

"Um..." Paige struggles, "Not fluffy..."

"And not bald..." added Rose weakly.

"It's just," Rey looks at her toes, not daring to look up at Poe directly, "kind of... scary..."

Poe stares at Finn, and Finn rattles quickly in a breathless panic, "Or maybe you can just ask him..."

With the words still hanging on his mouth, Rey and Paige pin Finn between them and simultaneously give him an elbow to both sides of his waist. When Finn is crouch in pain, Rey licks her lips and manages to speak, "We should probably do some reading tonight."

* * *

The moonlight barely illuminated the jungle, and amidst the shadows of the trees, two half-naked teenagers run barefoot, panting, but not daring to stop their pace. One of the teenagers is obviously weaker and gradually fell behind. Suddenly a man with a vulture face jumps down from a tree and directly tackles on the slower boy. The teenager who ran ahead heard the screams of his companion and couldn't help turning his head, but his companion yells: "Run, Steven, RUN!"

Steven takes two steps backward. He tries to go back to save his mate, only to find more men with vulture faces coming after. He turns his head and sees the river, so he jumps into it in panic.

One man prepared to catch up and was stopped. The man who stopped his accomplice shakes his head and woges back into his human form, "No need to chase, there's a waterfall up ahead, he won't survive."

He walks back to the boy captured by them again and cups the boy's chin with his hand, "There was an easier and painless way to go, but you just want to go for the hard one."

Releasing his hand, he snorts and looks to his accomplice who is holding the teenager down: "Take him back, we will do this one in the old way."

The group walks back to the camp with the teenager. A huge pit was dug next to the camp, a roaring fire is burning inside the pit and someone is throwing the bodies of young boys and girls into the fire.

After a while, the screams cut through the silence of the camp. Shortly after the screams subsided, the teenager who had failed to escape now a bloody corpse is thrown into that fire pit.

* * *

Rey did take Ren's words and stayed home for a day, though she didn't do much of anything that day at home, and she was just completely stared at the air and soaked in messy tangled thoughts. The reason why she is being able to show up at work today was all propelled by inertia, and next to her seat is an equally distracted and crumpled Poe.

They exchange glances, sigh simultaneously, and mournfully prepared to spend the day writing reports. Doing reports is the eternal and unchanging chore that would have no hidden identity for sure. Then suddenly Paige walks up quickly, "Cheer up and get moving, there's been a car accident over on 17th Street and the fire department has notified us to come over and coordinate."

"What does a car accident have to do with us?" Rey is a little confused.

Paige shrugs her shoulders, "I don't really want to get dramatic today, you'll see for yourself."

The scene of the crash is in grisly condition, a black SUV collided head-on with a silver sedan, the sedan flipped on its side, but its driver looks unharmed and had been taken to the hospital to be checked out. But the driver of the black SUV is trapped in the driver's seat and has a large cut on his neck from a shattered window. One firefighter got halfway into the back seat and put his hands on his neck to try to stop the bleeding. Two other firefighters are now armed with hydraulic cutters, ready to cut through the driver's door to get the man out.

The scene is bloody as hell, but not all of the blood is from the driver.

The trunk of the black SUV was presumably open due to the malfunction caused by the crash, and several portable coolers rolled to the ground, spilling ice, plasma, and internal organs all over the scene.

"Looks like that's why the fire department called us in." Poe pushes his sunglasses over his head and frowns, he points out: "That lump, it's a human heart, right?"

"And this lump looks like a liver," Rey squats down, already put some gloves on, she wasn't a professional butcher or doctor, but these guts and plasma, judging by the color and texture, are quite fresh.

She stands up and turns towards the black SUV, "That's not a medical vehicle for sure."

"So why is he carrying so many human organs?" Poe looks over as well.

The firefighters finally got the driver of the black SUV out after quite a bit efforts, the driver is male, and when he is being put on the stretcher, his face became somehow bird-like, his hair disappears, and his nose curves and extends to connect with his mouth which had turned into a huge hooked beak, as like a vulture.

Vultures? Rey frowns, aren't vultures scavengers and only prey for carcasses?

"That guy probably won't make it to the hospital, and we probably won't get a statement from him." Poe puts his sunglasses back on the bridge of his nose.

Rey sees the cell phone in the driver's hand, "But we should still be able to get that phone."

Poe guessed correctly, the driver of the black SUV was dead shortly after being gotten out and just got into the ambulance, the CSI's had loaded the phone and said they would send it to the forensics lab with the other evidence found at the scene. Rey and Poe were on their way back to the station when they got a new notice to check on a new-found floating body.

The floater had been pulled up to shore, it was found by a young couple who had planned to do morning skinny dipping, but only to find the water was too cold and a pale, cold corpse is floating in it.

"What the..." brow furrows as Rey looks at the half-naked corpse that hadn't been swollen, "That's a frighteningly pale complexion..."

Poe looked at her incredulously, "Shouldn't you find his empty eye socket due to his eyeball got pecked out by a bird more frightening?"

"Those eyes are nothing compared to that blood and flesh scene we just saw," Rey shrugs, "But seriously, he looks abnormally pale..."

"Frozen by the water?" Poe reaches out and touches the lake water.

Rey looks into the water, "Maybe."

"So this kid got froze and then drowned in the water and then got washed over here?" Poe throws out an idea. "Accident maybe?"

Rey squats down next to the body, she'd just put a pair of new gloves on, she touches the body carefully, the temperature of the body is really low, Rey can feel the coldness creeps through the gloves, but the muscles and such weren't stiff, she tilts the head of the corpse to one side as she moves, and realize there are two circular wounds just below the ears.

"Guess it wasn't an accident," Rey instructs Poe to look at the wounds, "No night swimmer would have prick himself like that before going into the water."

Poe is silent for a moment and crouches down as well, asking Rey in a low voice, "Are there vampires in those whatever wesens you guys are talking about?"

Rey stiffens and stared down at the wound, "Well, that beats me..."

* * *

Zorii pushes open the door in a full swing, Rey and Poe follows her grumpy raging steps right behind and listen to their most beautiful M.E lashing out: "That piles of organ, I knew at a glance was human, but no, the rules require that you must go to the laboratory to check it out, and our laboratory over there are already working in full speed yet still hands full. And then just after I have done with fucking request of those organ examinations, you guys got me a new corpse to come over. Bravo, you two, you are really capable of finding work for our forensic science department."

Poe makes a face behind Zorii's back and Rey knocks him out of it: "We appreciate all your hard works and thank you for all the efforts. Still, I got to ask, do you have the results of the preliminary tests on this corpse?"

"Nine out of ten, I say drowned. There is water in his noses and throats, already sampled for comparison with the water source where the body was found. But you are right, the accident wasn't accidental." Zorii snaps her gloves on and gently turns the corpse's head around to reveal the wound behind the ear, "This is the mark of a medical needle, really large gauge, probably like or bigger than blood donation needles. The boy may indeed have drowned himself, but that must be because he lost too much blood so he was too weak to hold up in the water."

"Lost too much blood?" Rey frowns, "How much blood?"

"My conservative estimate is 0.5 gallons, and the total blood volume of a normal adult is 1.2-1.5 gallons." Zorii turns the corpse's head back.

Poe is a little put-out and turns his head to the side, "That's almost half of the kid's blood."

"There wasn't much blood at the scene," Rey chimes in, then she has a sudden flash of insight, "Zorii, wasn't there a lot of plasma at that crash site, could you do a quick match with this kid's blood?"

Zorii nods, "I can do that, this is easy and pretty quick to do, I'll go set it up."

Rey nods and leaves a "thank you", and pulls Poe away. As they walking back to the bullpen, Poe asks Rey, "Do you think the two cases are related?"

"A patch of medical blood bags and human organs found at a car crash scene of a car accident, and a kid who lost too much blood and drowned have blood donation needle mark on the neck, sound too much for coincidence." Rey sighs, "Let's see what's the results from Zorii."

* * *

Zorii's results came out pretty fast, saying that the first match was a winner, confirming that the plasma from the crash scene contained a share of the kid's blood, and by all rights, such a big deal should be reported to the Captain. Rey looks at Poe, Poe looks at Rey, and the two silently started three rounds of rock-paper-scissors. After three rounds of draws, they decided to do this together and walk stiffly towards the door of the Captain's office.

Poe, in the midst of Rey's death glare, resolutely assumes the knocking duty. After the knock was over, Captain Ren's voice said, "Come in."

The two jostled for a moment, and Poe is pushed inside by Rey. The two cautiously walk in and Ren sitting in his chair with a calm face, "What’s wrong?"

"Just some updates," Poe clears his throat, "there was a spill of internal organs at the car accident scene, the CSI guys and the M.E. all said those should be human organs, they're waiting for concrete DNA testing. The guts were spilled from a black SUV, the driver was badly injured and stuck in the driver's seat, he dies shortly after the firefighters got him out. "

"There was a floating body found over at Mountain Park and the cause of death is probably drowning, but one of the causes of the deceased's drowning would have been severe blood loss, and the M.E. got a match between that kid's blood and some of the plasma found at the crash scene," Rey adds.

Ren frowns, "So we've got two weird cases on our hands at once and they're somehow related?"

Rey's feet paddles around on the floor and she struggles with the decision, to tell the truth, or not, she confides at last: "The driver of the black SUV was a wesen, he woged before he died, looks like a vulture."

Poe looks shocked, "Really?"

Ren stares at Rey, "Vultures? Are you sure?"

"Yeah." Rey nods.

"Then what you saw should have been a Geier, not a genial wesen in general," Ren contemplates for a moment and looks up, "You said there were quite a few organs scattered around the scene, what organs there were? "

"Heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys and everything, and a lot of plasma," Poe recalls.

Ren pinches the bridge of his nose and stands up, "This may be more serious than you think."

Rey and Poe look at each other, dumbfounded. Ren sighs: "Geiers are the herbalist in wesen, and they have been known as the craftsman at making good medicine for generations. But their favorite raw material is human organs, just like some human traditional medicine would use exotic animals as ingredients."

Poe gasps and Rey is amazed, "You mean this is still happening nowadays, making medicine from human organs?"

"It's quite possible," Ren sighs again, "Geiers have a reputation for making medicines from human organs, and those medicines are really pricey and craved by many. So if there are a profit and a market, it's only natural that someone would take the plunge."

"We're in big trouble," Ren concluded.


	19. No One Knows

Rey and Poe and Kylo Ren now standing in the coroner's office, three pairs of eyes fixing on Zorii, who now is feeling extremely uncomfortable under their gazes.  


It's three against one, with a ghastly pale corpse between them.  


Zorii clears her throat, puts on a new pair of medical gloves, deliberately pulls out a "pop" sound, and asked with a crake of a fake smile, "What can I do for you all?".  


"Have you determined the cause of the wound?" Rey goes first.  


Zorii sighs and once again steps ahead and twists the head of the poor corpse to the side, revealing the two circular wounds. The corpse is starting to stiffen, and Zorii had a real hard time turning the head, "These are the marks of medical needles for sure, 30 gauges, the ultimate venipuncture needle type, actually at hospital normally we would just use 21 gauges or less. And there are two holes here, so either someone wanted this kid to bleed out faster, or someone wanted to disguise this as a vampire sucking. "  


"So the cause of death was? "Poe follows.  


"Still drowning, but as I did say before, my conservative estimation was that the boy was already in a state of severe blood loss when he went in the river, I thought there were at least 0.5 gallons left then." Zorri slowly snaps the corpse's head back into place as she replies, "But I just checked and the kid had less than 0.4 gallons left in him, probably only a quarter of all his blood left. And I can tell you the boy is in pretty good health, so he might have survived if he hadn't lost too much blood. Unless...the kid is drawing out his blood on purpose. "  


Kylo Ren grimly sums up, "Which means this case is still going to be a murder investigation. "  


"You're saying the kid was in pretty good health?" Rey suddenly asks, "We checked on this kid, he's strayed on the streets, and he is pretty healthy?"  


"Maybe he hasn't been away from home long or he knows how to take care of himself, but from what I've just examined, his organs and such are healthy, and the blood tests show that his vitals are pretty good." Zorii takes off her gloves and picks up the report that was on the side and hands it over. Rey takes it in one hand and flips it over.  


"No lesions, fat, cirrhosis, or pathology of any kind," Rey closes the report and looks to the two men next to her, "young and Health. "  


Kylo Ren ponders for a moment and looks to Zorii, "Where are the organs found at the scene of that crash? Is it also young and healthy?"  


Zorii is a little confused but answers honestly, "They're still checking for DNA and stuff over at the lab, not sure if they're young or not, but they all look like very healthy fresh internal organs."  


Kylo Ren nods and motions for Rey and Poe to leave with him.  


After walking out of the coroner's office, Ren looks serious and orders firmly, "Investigate these two cases together and handle them discreetly. "  


"Yes, sir." Rey and Poe blurt out in unison without thinking about it.

* * *

Rey returns home exhausted, the house is filled with the aroma of food, Finn who had heard the noise pokes his head out of the kitchen and greets Rey: "Welcome home. Get ready, steak for dinner tonight.."  


"Are you really that hates Chewie's vegan meals? Lately, whenever you can cook yourself, you always go carnivore." Rey couldn't help but sputters, though she is also drooling a little at the thought of a delicious steak.  


Finn's serious voice looms out from the kitchen, "While Chewie's vegan cooking is pretty good, meat is the light of my life, fire of my loins. And forgive me if I can't convert to vegetarianism now."  


"Did you find the book for me?" Rey shakes her head and laughs.  


"Found two copies and put them in your room. By the way, how rare do you want your steak? "  


"Medium rare!" Rey shouts to the kitchen and turns into her room, where two heavy Grimm books are sitting on the long table, she opens the cover, and inside is a table of contents, made of halved white A4 paper, in stark contrast to the yellowed pages of the records themselves, filled with beautiful handwriting, which are clearly Rose's doing. Rey easily locates the number of pages she is looking for, flips open and a vulture-like face comes into view.  


Rey pauses, yes, just like the face of the driver of the crash. She looks down and starts reading the words, "Geier, vulture-like creatures with an innate ability to move through trees. These vile creatures are harvesters who take pleasure in the pain of others. Geiers gut human for their organs and blood as homeopathic medicines and aphrodisiacs within the Grimm creature community."  


She was about to continue reading when Finn's loud voice stops her, "Dinner's ready." So she stands up to the call, turns around, and walks out of her room, the freshly opened pages shuddering down to reveal a lifelike hand drawing of some Geiers harvesting organs from a living person.

* * *

Finn's cooking is really on point, yes it is just a regular $7.00 a pound steak, bought from the supermarket, but it is tasty, and the sauce is enticing, and those delicious roasted mashed potatoes with chives and sour cream on top are just incredible, Rey almost licks her plate, the only reason she didn't do it is that she is too full by stuffing herself with all those side dishes.  


"You're right, one can't simply live without meat." Rey sighs as she touches her bulging belly.  


Finn, who is sitting across from her, hum in response, is also full.  


"Have you ever heard of Geier?" Rey eventually relents as she manages to sit up straight and looks at her roommate. "The medicines they make, have you heard of them?"  


"You mean the Geier's special Kehrseite drugs? Of course, I've heard of it, after all, my family has been running the herb store for generations. If I remember correctly, my great-grandmother even sold some back then, whole bottles of testicle powder, revitalizing male virility and all that..."  


"Testicle powder?" Rey froze for a bit, "Is that what I think it is..." she trails off, hardly resisting staring at someone's crotch. Finn winces at her sight and couldn't help but sit up straight.  


Rey laughs out loud, and Finn waves his hand awkwardly, "But then again, it's not uncommon for human organs to be used as medicine since ancient times, considering that the Europeans used to crush mummies into tinctures to stanch internal bleeding. Also, some people grind human skulls into powder and mix it with wine, saying it can cure gout and the plague, and called it The King’s Drops. "  


Rey was stunned, "Isn't this cannibalism? "  


"Yeah, but people don't say that. They pretend they're not cannibals by using all kinds of reasons, they are using corpses not living persons or other excuses. Bandages soaked in human fat were used to treat trauma and gout; human brains mashed up for the making of an ointment for epilepsy, or some fresh human blood bought from an executioner for making marmalade, well you can even use your blood if you don't trust other people's blood. And that bloody human blood marmalade recipe was instructed by a Franciscan apothecary." Finn drones on.  


Rey silently pushes her unfinished jam pudding aside.  


"But it's bizarre though, this homeopathic treatment of humans, the "like cures like" theory, is basically a purely psychological placebo, but the Kehrseite drugs do work wonders for Wesens." Finn deflates, "Like the testicle powder I just mentioned, which is a potent Wesen aphrodisiac. There are also poultices made from human brains which can boost memory. And human heart tonics. Nana knew all about it, but she never sold those kinds of stuff ever since she inherited the shop, she said it is not ethical."  


"Your nana was quite perceptive." Rey nods.  


Finn chuckles, "Yeah."

* * *

After putting the bowls and plates into the dishwasher, Rey walks back to her room to continue working on the pile of Grimm records, she now is really glad she'd come to read them on a full stomach, or she probably wouldn't have been able to eat the steak she'd just eaten.  


"April 5th, 1918, When I arrived in France, the German spring offensive had just claimed the lives of 20,000 British soldiers on the first day of battle. I tracked a clan of Geiers to the battlefields a few days later. I observed that they held no allegiance to either side, harvesting the organs of British and German soldiers alike. Geiers are the vilest of all -- they harvest human organs while the victims are still alive, seeming to take pleasure in the savage pain they cause. Carnage on the front lines has provided them with a seemingly endless supply of viscera for their terrible trade."  


On the side note, there is a hand-drawn picture shows a group of woged Geiers, their hands have turned into sharp claws, and are using them as knives to disembowel a dying soldier lying on the ground.  


Rey flips through the pages, and the rest of the notes are less gory, mostly descriptions of Geiers' attributes: "When Geiers are woged, their hands elongate and grow sharp talons. Geier feet grow an additional talon on the heel, making attacks from the air more effectively. Geiers have an innate ability to move through trees, staying above their victims who walk beneath them, unaware...They attack from above..."  


The light in Rey's room stays up till very, very late that night.

* * *

The next day at work, Rey walks into the police station with hella dark circles under her eyes and sits down in her chair in a daze. Poe slid over in his chair and asks, “What the hell did you do? You look like you did not sleep at all. ”  


"Done a bit of late-night reading," Rey sighs, "researched a bunch of creepy organ harvesting stories with accompanying illustrations."  


"Sounds like fun," Poe smirks, "here's some more interesting reading material, that kid's prints are in the records. "  


"Missing Persons?"  


"Not really,"Poe shrugs, waving the report in his hand, "I present you, Steven Bamford, just passed his eighteenth birthday, and yet he already had a criminal record." Rey takes the file from Poe and goes through it, "Shoplifting, drug possession, and B&E...last known address was Portland P.O. box."  


"Zip is the downtown, wanna swing by?" Poe snaps his fingers, stands up, and raises an eyebrow.  


Rey slightly, just slightly, rolls her eyes and hauls up her butt, which wasn't even getting warm-up at the seat, and stands up.

* * *

The post office guy is quite cooperative: "He started renting this mailbox about six months ago and comes in now and then, but I haven't seen much of him. But come to think of it, it seems like I haven’t seen him at all in over a month or so."  


"Ever see anyone else come with him?" Rey asks, pulling back the freshly printed Steven's picture.  


The post office guy shakes his head, "Haven't noticed much. Quite a few of these street kids come over to rent mailboxes, and as long as they can pay the bill, we don't care much."  


"Thanks for your cooperation." Poe pats the other man on the shoulder and gets ready to turn around with Rey to leave. A round-faced kid walked in, her clothes weren't dirty, but they didn't fit and looks old, and she was wearing a puka-shell necklace around her neck. Rey stops, turns her head, and stops that kid. “Hey, that necklace around your neck, is that made of Puka-shell? Can you tell me where you got it? ”  


The round-faced girl looks wary, "I traded it."  


"It's pretty." Rey keeps her smile and hands over Steven's picture, "Have you ever seen this kid around?"  


The round-faced girl didn't pick up the picture, just scans it, then looks up at Rey and Poe, "You guys are cops?"  


"Yes. If you've seen him, can you tell us about it? It is important. "Rey looks into the girl's eyes, but the girl is evasive, unwilling to look directly.  


Poe inserts, "He's dead, we're investigating the cause of his death."  


"Steven's dead?" The girl startles and blurts out.  


Rey retrieves the photo and nods, "We were just trying to find out what happened to him. Any information would be helpful to us."  


The girl clutches the straps of her backpack and says slowly, "I don't know him well either, but you can ask Gracie, she's the one who sold the necklace. She's at the Plaza."  


Rey nods, whispers a "thank you" and leaves with Poe.

* * *

The two of them walk to the Ankeny Plaza, just past the stone gates, and they find a girl sitting in front of the fountain with a large blanket spread out in front of her. On the blanket are all sorts of Puka shells necklaces. Rey squats down in front of this little booth, holds up a necklace. “It’s nice. How much is it? ”  


"They're not for sale, I'll trade them for whatever you think it's worth." The girl smiles coyly.  


Rey puts the necklace down and hands the girl Steven's picture, "So Gracie, what can I trade for information related to Steven?"  


Gracie looking at the photo and panics, "What happened to him?"  


"He's dead," Poe says coldly.  


Gracie shrieks, Rey stands up and glares at Poe, Poe shrugs in protest, how could he know she will have that much of a reaction. Then all of a sudden a boy rushes out and shields Gracie behind himself, his words full of warning, "Who are you? What do you want?"  


Rey and Poe silently reach to their badges, Poe's is on a chain and dangling over his chest, Rey's tucks in her trouser's pocket. After they both finish flashing their badges, Rey continues her question, "We just want to know about Steven."  


"What do you want with him?" The boy still looks fierce and Gracie tugs on him, explaining to Rey and Poe, "This is my brother." Then she whispers to the boy, "Steven's dead." She couldn't stop crying after that.  


"Dead?" The fierceness on the boy's face fades into fear and helplessness, "How did he die?"  


"We found his body downstream of a waterfall, and we're still investigating about it," Poe softens his voice, "Was Steven involved with any gangs or groups?"  


Gracie wipes her tears, "No way, he, ah, gets uncomfortable when he's around more than three people."  


Rey looked at Poe and once again retrieves the picture, "And do you know where he went and did?"  


"Seems like he got a job on a farm, ranch work, and stuff, with housing and meals, and they came over and picked him up." The boy says sullenly.  


"When was the last time you saw him?" Poe picks up.  


"A month or so ago, I think, we took him to the clinic."  


Poe nods, "The one on 15th Avenue, right?"  


The two siblings nod. Poe says thank you and motions for Rey to come with him. Rey, however, squats down, pulls out a $20 bill from her pockets, put it in the hat on the blanket, and picks out a necklace, "That's a pretty necklace." Then she stood up and left with Poe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry about this such late update, it was a really busy month filled with working and I struggled to get some phrase now and then, and finally here is the new chapter, hope you will like it.
> 
> I don't want to do the plots all based on the original TV plots, what's the fun in it them hehehe.
> 
> Kylo Ren's background story will reveal a bit later, hopefully, I can get it in the next chapter or the chapter after the next one.
> 
> The Geier notes are from https://grimm.fandom.com/wiki/Geier
> 
> The cannibal medicine materials are real historical finding, if you are interested, you can look up the mummia or check-up this wiki page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_cannibalism


	20. Puka Shells to Hell

> "..and then we shall see the crumbs of bread which I have strewn about, they will show us our way home again." (Hansel and Gretel, the Brothers Grimm, translated by Margaret Hunt)

"...... we didn't find any clue at the clinic, the doctor in charge heard the kid died and even asked was he overdose, then said his last visit was for a spider bite and he never been back since." Rey and Poe are standing in Ren's office, where Poe mumbling about the progress. Unfortunately, even though they'd been out and about all morning, they still hadn't gotten any solid leads. The mere facts strung together were more of a repeat of what they had known already. Stray teens, not many local connections, no health problems, and one day he just disappeared off the streets.

"That farm job is kind of suspicious, though, who would hire a homeless teen." Poe taps his pen against his temple and tsks through his teeth.

Rey shrugs, "Not really, there are some organizations that try to help out the homeless through providing jobs, and to be honest, the labor costs are quite considerate if you just need to provide those teens housing and food, so maybe someone will recruit those kids that way."

"Investigate if there are any local charities are working on this, and also see if there are any other homeless youths who have gone missing after going to work on so-called farms as well." Ren ponders for a moment, slowly giving his orders. The two detectives nodded and were about to leave when Ren suddenly calls out to them, "You said the clinic's name was Folter Clinic? How does the Folter spell?"

"F-O-L-T-E-R, what's wrong?" Rey turns her head.

Ren hesitates for a moment, "Folter in German means torture."

The office suddenly goes silent.

Ren rotates the ring on his left pinky, "Just a sudden thought, but the organ harvesting thing does require some medical technique, so just keep an eye on that clinic just in case."

The two nods again and walks out of Ren's office. As soon as they get back to their desks, Paige walks over to them, "Fresh hot leads coming up, according to the driver's license we found in the car, our organ SUV driver's name is Andrew Probasco, but a quick check based on that name and the social security number. This guy was born in 1932, died in 2005, and somehow coincidentally died again some time ago, and even more coincidentally, according to his profile, he was an organ donor."

"What a coincidence, we've found out why he is transporting all those human organs!" Poe coaxing along and Rey could not help but give some serious eye rolls to this comedic duo. She yanks away the file Paige was holding and asks, "So the driver's license is fake, I guess the license plate is fake too."

"Correct," Paige gives Rey a thumbs up, "The license plate check came back on a Toyota that was stolen two years ago."

Rey quirks an eyebrow and couldn't help but sigh.

"Don't worry, we did get something on the cell phone, although it's a disposable phone, it's a pain in the ass to get the data from the telecom carrier. But since we have a connection between Steven's murder and this organ SUV car accident, the Captain says we should be able to get a warrant to knock on the door of the telecom company this afternoon for specific call and message records." Paige pats on Rey's shoulder.

Rey nods, "Okay, let us know if there's any progress."

She turns back to her computer screen and stares at it for a moment, then opens an online German dictionary website and types in the word "FOLTER". The result pops up, "Noun, meaning torture. "

Is it a coincidence? Or is there something else going on?

And ...... did he bring it up on purpose?

Rey looks up at Ren's office, where she could see the dark-haired man concentrating on his work behind the blinds.

Only hexenbiest or zauberbiest bonds with a royal can reproduce a hybrid biest, that’s what Rose said.

She barely understands the biest. Royalty? Wesens got royal family? Rey ponders for a moment.

Never mind that for now, the pale, gruesome dead teenager there in the morgue was still waiting for her to find out the truth. She closes the online dictionary page and started looking up the Folter Clinic in the database.  


* * *

  
"Did you find out anything?" Poe walks over grimly and set a cup of coffee down in front of Rey's desk, then start gulping his third cup of coffee of the day.

" Dr. Valerie Levine," Rey takes a sip of her coffee, looks at the pile of pages on the screen, and begin to read, "once a famous military doctor, graduated from USUHS, deployed twice to Iraq, ranked Colonel, has done thousands of emergency surgeries on the front lines. Then she settled in Portland and joined the Folter Charity Clinic, where she has been working for over four years now. "

"Sounds like a saint." Poe scans the photo of the brunette on the screen, commenting as he sat down.

Rey hums in reply, "The Folter Charity Clinic has opened just four years ago, so you could say she's been there since the opening."

"I checked on the clinic side as well, it's called Folter because the guy who donated all his money to start the clinic was named Folter, and he vowed to donate his estate to build the free clinic on his deathbed, at least that's what their official page says. "Rey takes another mouthful of coffee down her throat without tasting it.

Poe quirks an eyebrow, "The old man probably doesn't speak German, or else it's pretty tough to carry a last name like that."

"Probably."

Rey had just finished sighing for a moment when Paige breezes over, "Got the address, the telco figured out that the phone only talks to one number, we triangulated that number and narrowed it down to within three hundred meters, the most likely place is Murdoch Road, 21343. "

"That's the remote northwest part, quite a lot undeveloped ground." Poe looks at Rey and Rey nods, "Sounds like a pretty good place for abducting homeless teenagers for farm work."

Ren walks out of his office, "I'll come with you guys."

Paige, Rey, and Poe flinches, Ren silently gives them all three a death stare, and with a shudder, the three said in unison, "Roger that, sir."  


* * *

  
"Damn, I'm getting sick of this place, it's wide open and mountainous," Poe sputters as he hiking through the forest, Rey, walking ahead of him and not being able to resist a smile back at his complaint, "Really, not holding up already?" As she teases, she couldn't help but look at the large army of officers following them, led by Ren of course, who dresses as always in his black coat and shoes, except he was now holding a Remington 870 shotgun, striding up the tree-covered hills on foot.  
He is right behind Rey. Rey continues walking up the hill, she is now filled with doubt and question revolves this man, but at the same time just as now, she fell like she could give her back to Kylo Ren without worrying that the taller man would point that gun at her.

Rey looks over at Poe who was a few steps behind her, and she kind of wants to asks Poe what he thinks but she keeps being quiet.

An RV showed up in their eyesight, everyone holds their pace and stop. The windows are stained and covered with newspapers and stuff. Rey and Poe both draw their guns out. Ren gestures with his hands, two officers slowly pockets behind the RV while Rey and Poe stride forward to the RV door. They crouch on both sides of the door. Poe clears his throat and knocks on the door, "Portland P.D., is anyone there?"

Responding to the sound, a couple of bullets punching through the car door. Rey and Poe ducking on the sides of the door, they exchange glances, Rey takes hold of the handle and looks at Poe, who nods, She yanks the door open and Poe rushes in, Rey follows. A scruffy man with an M70 rifle is standing behind the door, Poe bowls him over and knocks him to the ground, Rey yanks the rifle away. Then just in a sudden, Rey notices there is another man in the car, who could have been crouching down at first because Rey and Poe hadn't seen him, he is now standing up with a rifle and pointing it at Poe, who is wrestling with his partner, Rey grabs Poe by the back of his collar and tries to pull him back out of the door.

Bang. A shot is fired.

The man with the rifle falls to the ground and Poe takes the opportunity to punch out his opponent. Rey stands up and looks out the window. The Remington in Ren's hand is still smoking. He realizes Rey is watching him and nods to her.

Rey is in a bit of a mixed mood, she nods back.

They cleared the area and didn't find any more people. Instead, they found several shacks and greenhouses built behind the RV. They walk up to the largest shack and lift the two plastic sheets hanging in the doorway, and before they even walk in, two of the newbies run right away and start vomiting.

Well, you can't blame them, the inside of the shack is like a horror movie scene, hanging all kinds of organs, most of them are dried, and the air is filled with a strange smell of dried meat. There are also some medicine mills and mortars and electronic scales on the table, and packed bags of unidentified powder.

Rey couldn't speak as she looking at the strings of dried human hearts hanging from hooks. 

"Is it just me, or do all these organs look the size of human organs ......" Paige asked hesitantly. 

Before anyone could answer her, Poe’s voice is shaking: "Are those bottle soaking ...... embryos ......" 

Poe looks horrified. Everyone takes a look at the corner he was pointing to and silently all turns around.

"That SUV driver loaded with human organs is probably supplying this side." Rey looks at the pharmaceutical tools on the table, then back to Ren and Poe, and then to Paige.

Paige was a little confused at first, then as if something had suddenly occurred to her, she whispers, "Geier deal?"

Ren nods indistinctly.

"If these are human organs, then why air-dry and mash them, wouldn't it be more profitable to take them to the black market for human transplants." A newbie who is not vomiting but also hadn't noticed her several superiors and seniors’ secret communication asks in confusion.

"Uh, medicinal cannibalism, it's been around since the beginning of time, just like some traditional medicine will use rare wild animals for medicine," Rey explains dryly.

The newbie frowns, "Nasty ...... still cannibalism though."

"Or should I say cannibalistic capitalism?" Paige, who was just getting up to speed, couldn't help but sputter. Rey, Poe, and even Ren, now all staring at her. She shrugs, turns her head, and begins to give orders, "Hurry up and arrange for someone from CSI to come over and take evidence, and as soon as possible after the evidence is taken, arrange for a lab to check if these damn things are fucking human organs or not. Take pictures and get another one over here ......"

"Sir," a female officer walks toward Ren with an evidence bag in her hand, "found this on the RV, it should be the cell phone of one of the suspects, someone just called in."

Rey picks it up and sees the number displays on it, something about it feels familiar. She tosses the evidence bag to Poe and digs a business card out of her pants pocket for comparison, "It's the phone number of that manager at the Folter Clinic."

The phone hung up.  


* * *

  
"Gracie, generally, in your case, I would recommend bed rest ...... "Dr. Levine turns around, takes off her gloves and tosses them into the trash, "I'll prescribe some antibiotics. If your throat starts to swell, you need to take your medication, okay? If you can, try to eat something before you take the pills."

Gracie nods her head nicely.

Dr. Levine looks at the brown-haired girl and asks, "Where's your brother?"

"Waiting for me outside," Gracie smiles shyly, "We're planning to have a nice dinner later. "

"Oh," Dr. Levine is a little surprised, "is the necklace business that good?"

"It was okay, it just...There was a female detective who came by a while back to ask us some questions and slipped us $20 before we left. We just never got around to use it." Gracie explains her leg draping over the edge of the chair, wobbling in the air.

Dr. Levine, who was prescribing medication, pauses, "A detective? Asked you?"

"Well, they came over and asked us if we knew Steven, and we told them everything we could, so hopefully they will find the killer soon." Gracie lowers her head, a little depressed. Dr. Levine's face didn't show much expression as she yanks off the medication list and then hands it to Gracie with a smile, "Well, go eat something nice and then don't forget to take your medication."

"Okay, bye doctor." Gracie hops out of the chair and takes the medication order and heads out the door.

As she walks out, Tom Daniels, the clinic manager, walks in and starts complaining to Dr. Levine after he closed the door, "Those two junkies at the shed aren't answering their phones again, I told you before these two are just useless..."

"Forget about those two idiots, take care of those two siblings tonight, they've talked to the police, get it over with before it's too late." Levine interrupts Daniels and gives a decisive order, "Take them straight to the operating room, I'll go over there first and start getting ready."

Tom Daniels quirks an eyebrow, "I thought you had a soft spot for those two?"

Levine gives him a glare and Daniels raises his hand in surrender, "Fine, Stankavitch is close by anyway."  


* * *

  
By the time Rey and Poe got the emergency search warrant from the judge and went to the clinic, they only see a nurse getting ready to close up shop. Poe rushes over and presses down on the nurse's hand holding the keys. Rey held up the warrant and waves it in front of the nurse's face, "Portland PD, we're here to search."

The nurse is a little flustered, "What's going on?"

"Open the door, inside ones too, we need to search." Rey's tone was cold, different from her usual gentleness. The nurse lowers her head at her death stare with a trembling hand and slips the key into the keyhole, and for just a moment Rey sees her woges into a Geier.

Rey didn't make a sound, it wasn't time to show herself yet.

Until she just walks into the clinic and steps on some shells. She stops, lifts her foot, and sees a few crushed pukka bead shells on the soles of her shoes.

Gracie.

She moves too fast for Poe to stop her. Honestly, he's never seen Rey react like this before.

Rey pins the nurse directly against a corner and she stares into the nurse's eyes as she speaks slowly, "Where did they take all those kids?"

"What are you talking about, I don't understand ......"

Rey interrupts her, "You're a Geier."

The nurse instantly woges, there was a hint of murder in her eyes the moment when she woges, but after she sees the endless abyss in Rey's eyes, she panics and woges back.

"Good, now that we know what each other is," Rey's tone has that hint of sarcasm in it, "if you cooperate, then I'm just a Portland police detective; if you don't, then you are handling a Grimm. Do you understand? "

The nurse nods.

"Perfect, so where were those kids taken?”  


* * *

  


> Oh! then she began to howl quite horribly, but Gretel ran away and the godless witch was miserably burnt to death. (Hansel and Gretel, the Brothers Grimm, translated by Margaret Hunt)

KARMA IS A BITCH. Rey couldn't help but think of this as she sending Gracie and Hanson and the other survivors to the ambulance before their anesthesia wore off. The siblings managed to escape from the "candy house" while the witch burned to death in the oven, just like in the fairy tale. Well, Dr. Levine didn't burn in the oven, but she did fall into the fire pit.

The fire pit had just been put out, but according to the Fire Department, the pit must have been drowsed with some kind of accelerant, which is why it took so long to put out the fire. Rey standing there watching the CSI team brings out an intact charred corpse and couldn't help but touch the bandaged wound on her shoulder. That was the courtesy of Dr. Levine, who was woged into her Geier form and had grabbed three wounds there with her claws.

It was a risky shot. Poe and Rey drove straight to the operating room without a warrant, they did called it in but there is not much time for them to wait for the backup. The Geiers were cunning enough to set up the medical shed on one hill to the northwest, with the surgery on the other hill on another side of the town. Poe went all fast and furious and drove his car at racing speed all the way.

Rey couldn't find Dr. Levine once she chased her into the jungle, and out of surprise, woged Dr. Levine just leaped out from the top of a tree, kicked the gun out of her hand, and those claws dug through her clothes, inflicting three wounds. It became a physical fight scene after that, Rey doubling in strength since becoming a Grimm and she keeps kicking Levine until they were to the side of the fire pit. Maybe it was the light of the fire that made Levine realize that Rey was a Grimm, so in the panic, Levine actually fell into the fire pit herself.

The paramedics say Poe and her arrived just in time, several of the children's vital organs are just out of their bodies and should have no problem being re-transplanted back into their bodies, while Gracie and Hansen have just been prepped for surgery and haven't been gutted yet.

But maybe she still hadn't arrived early enough. 

Aside from Dr. Levine's charred body being intact, all that could be found in the extinguished fire pit were handfuls of burnt shredded bones.

Rey thought of a string of dried-up human hearts in the shed. Each heart was a child who hadn't get her rescue.

"You've done enough, come on, Kanata," Ren says, standing behind Rey.

Rey turns her head in silence and slowly leaves the scene.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, finally I got this chapter out!  
> Sorry for such delay, I could have posted this one last week but well sometimes life just wanna mess you around...  
> And finally, and I can't wait to, write some background story of Ren in the next chapter!!!YAY!


	21. Haunted Nightmare

> “Strange, I thought, how you can be living your dreams and your nightmares at the very same time.”  
>  ― Ransom Riggs, Hollow City(Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children #2)

The tent is grey and unattractive to look at from the outside, but once you walk in, you can see the ground is covered with a brightly colored, repetitive patterned carpet, warm yellow lights beaming out from a lamp hanging from the ceiling, and cheerful music is flowing in the air, but to the shivering black-haired boy with his hands and feet tied up with twine and thrown into a corner, nothing from this warm scenery could quell his fear.

The curly-haired woman in the flamboyant dress who wraps herself in a shawl embroidered with exotic motifs is arguing fiercely in German with a skinny livid youth.

Finally, the curly-haired woman resigned, "To establish the true value of a child, one must establish the bloodline." She turns around and walks over to the boy, crouches down, and cups his chin in her fingers, forcing him to look directly into her eyes, "There is only one way to be sure."

"And what is that?" The skinny young man asks impatiently.

"Blood of the child." After saying that, the woman stands up and motions for the big brown-haired man who had been sitting on the couch next to her to come over. The man roughly pins the boy to the floor. The woman went to the dressing table on the other side and takes a brand new huge medical syringe out of a box.

"No! Stop!" The boy screams, but there was no escape from the large man, and the woman walks back to the boy with the syringe in her hand and says softly, "Just standard procedure."

"No, no, no!" The boy tried to struggle but still could only watch as the syringe inserted into his arm.

After taking a full tube of blood, the woman walks over to a nearby stove. She set the syringe aside, for now, picks up a small copper pot, opens the nearby cupboard to get a jar, pours some of the thick liquid from the jar into the pot, and then throws in a handful of chopped herbs as the liquid boils up. When everything boils up again and turns into a blood-red paste, she pushes blood out of the syringe into the pot and stirs it with a wooden spoon. Slowly the paste became clear and liquidy as water, with strands of blue appearing in the water as the spoon stirs.

"Royal blood indeed." The woman smiles with satisfaction.

"I told you so." The slim man snorts, dismissively.

"Yes, you did, but the word of a zauberbiest... even a former one...is cheap." The curly-haired woman turns off the fire, puts down her spoon, claps her hands, and turns around, looking at the thin, indignant man, and says defiantly, "Blood is strong. Now the negotiations for the boy can begin, though."

The woman walks over to the couch and sits down lazily, "I'm prepared to offer you fifty thousand."

"Seventy-five." The slim man didn’t bat an eye.

"A girl might be worth that much, he's just a boy." The woman looks like she thought the other man was crazy.

The skinny man points at the boy cowering in the corner and yells, "He's the grandson of the Darth Vadar, the nephew of the Skywalker, he's just worth that much."

"Half a million, that's my offer." The woman yawns.

The man shakes his head in exasperation, "I can get more than that on the open market in Budapest."

"Only if you can make it to Budapest." the curly-haired woman scoffs.

No. No. NO! The boy's heart is full of cries, but he couldn't scream, he could feel his body temperature rising as if his blood is beginning to boil, his eyes are bloodshot and he just stares at the two of them as they quarreling.

The curly-haired woman senses something is wrong, and she turns her head in panic, to pounce at the boy from the couch.

But at that moment, the power explodes out of the boy ...

Kylo Ren wakes up.

It is still in the wee hours of the morning, he hadn't really slept for long, and the night is still dark outside the window. But his black hair is already damp with sweat and streaked into locks, his eyes are still glowing red, and Zauberbiest marks emerging from his face and naked upper body.

He gasps for air, adjusting his breathing.

It was just a nightmare, it was just a nightmare.  


* * *

  
Leia wakes up in a state of shock, her brown hair, which had begun to turn gray, falling over her chest. She sits up on her bed, looking out the window just as the day dawned, whispering a name listlessly, "Ben."

She couldn't remember how long it had been since she'd had this nightmare again, and all the details are too reductive for her to forget.

What mother would ever forget the night her child was kidnapped?

And what mother can forget finding her child but only to find him covered in blood?

Even if it wasn't even Ben's blood.

She couldn't go back to sleep, so she gets up.

By the time Amilyn Holdo comes over to her with the new speech manuscript, Leia has finished freshening up and is working at her desk.

Holdo is a little surprised, "You're a little early today." She purposely lifts her wrist to look at her watch, it is only just after seven o'clock.

"I didn't sleep well, so I get up early." Leia puts down the pen in her hand, takes off her glasses, takes the manuscript from Holdo, and smiles a little. She has brushed all her hair up into a high bun. She wasn't particularly fond of this type of hairstyle that would tug at her scalp, and in her everyday life, she is more likely to get two braids, or a ponytail, or maybe a low bun.

But she has a job to do today, she's going to speak in the House.

"There's another declaration of independence from Coruscant," Holdo adds quietly, standing beside Leia, "and they want to bring Naboo along this time."

Leia put down the script, "The First Order really can't stop."

She stands up, the traditional Alderaan gown she is wearing drapes down, barely a crease in the thick satin. Dress in a black jacket, which uses wool tweed to sewn into a solemn and strong traditional silhouette, Leia strides out the door and says it without looking back, "I'm not going to let them get away with this."

Holdo follows right behind her, smiling and replying, "As always."  


* * *

  
"Sleepless in Portland." Rey didn't hold back a big yawn when she arrived at the scene, tightening her jacket, she walks over toward the crime scene, Paige waves at her from the police line, "Poe is not here yet, that guy's still on his way."

"That's rare." Rey quirks an eyebrow, "Isn't his house pretty close to here ..."

Speaking of the devil.

Poe trots over, points at the store sign, and sighs, "Damn, I know this place, I bought my second engagement ring from here."

Rey and Paige scan him and then exchanges glances with each other.

"That's a fancy cardigan." Paige comments.

"The size doesn't look right. " Rey adds.

"And someone smells like high-end fragrance." Paige wiggles her nose.

"And also obviously just came here from a farther place than his home..." Rey trails off.

The two women look at Poe with glazed eyes and Poe throws his hands up in surrender, "Okay, okay, Sherlock Homles, can we get in there and solve that case inside?"

Paige shakes her head and stretches up the cordon, "The robbers must have broken in through the front door, shortly after the owner closed for the night."

"Said they found a body?" Rey ducks her head and gets inside the cordon, Poe following behind her.

"Yes, that's right, the owner himself, Samuel Bertram," Paige nods.

Poe sighs again, "Agh, I was afraid something had happened to him."

"His body was found in the vault, I guess he thought he'd be safe if he got into the safe." Paige leads the two towards the back of the store.

Rey looks up at the walls around them, "Any security cameras?"

"The robbers found the camera and ripped it right off the wall, so I guess they took the cameras with them." Paige gestures.

"Looks like a professional job." Poe scratches his head.

Paige walks them over to the vault and points her finger at the blasted door, "Indeed, they knew exactly what they were doing."

The vault had been ransacked, only the body of the owner, Samuel Bertram, pierced with pieces of the exploded vault door, still lays in front of a shelf. Poe crouches down next to the body and exclaims, "Oh my God."

Rey pats him on the shoulder, Poe stands up and circles, "Sam was a big-time numismatic, his collection probably worth quite a bit of money."

"Numismatic? Sounds like some kind of religion." Rey is a little curious.

"You can say that, except what he worships and obsesses about, are coins. " Poe shrugs.

The CSI guys came in and take Samuel Bertram's body out, Poe and Rey walkout as well. As soon as she steps out of the store, Rey notices something was wrong. It is the middle of the night and the street is mostly empty, but a man is standing on a corner not far away staring at the crime scene. Rey takes two steps forward to get a better look, but the man seems trying to be in control of his emotions, turns around, and then woges. Rey looks at the reflection on the window the man is facing, he looks kind of like a Blubad.

She is about to walk over and asks some questions, but n the man walks away, gets into his car, and drives away.

"Rey, what's wrong, let's go." Paige comes over to her.

"Paige, is there a security camera in that store over there covering the street?" Rey asks, pointing up to the street corner where the man had just been standing.

Paige nods, "It should be, what's up? Do you want to get to that tape?"

"Yeah, the sooner the better." Rey pats Paige on the shoulder and turns around to walk back to her car.  


* * *

  
Soledad Marquesa returns to his stronghold, and as soon as he walks through the door, he smells blood, and two steps further, he finds the bodies of his two dumbass accomplices lying on the ground. He was ready to run for his life, but a gun is pressed against the back of his head.

"Don't move, you know, elder people like me are more prone to have shaky hands." The man with the gun looks to be in his 50s and 60s, with gray hair and a deep voice.

Soledad Marquesa holds up his hands and breathes a little faster, "You killed them."

"Ironically," the man says, with a hint of sarcasm, "They killed each other."

He gives Soledad Marquesa a shove and motions the other man to move forward, "It was dark, they couldn't see."

"I thought I saw you in Lisbon." Soledad Marquesa stumbles, forcing his composure.

"Ah," the grey-haired man sighs, "Yeah, my bad."

Soledad Marquesa didn't dare put his hand down, "The coins are not here."

The man sneers, "Figured that out. So where are they?"

"If I knew, you think I'd come back to this shithole?" Soledad Marquesa is a little distraught.

"How should I know. After all, those coins can make people do a lot of weird things." The grey-haired man raises an eyebrow, still looking calm and collected, "Face down on the floor."

While he is instructing Soledad Marquesa to get down on the floor, he never lowers the gun in his hand. And at the same time, he pulls a chair from beside him and sits down leisurely.

"Now ..." he put one foot lightly on Soledad Marquesa's lower back, gun pointed at the other man's head, and speaks leisurely, "Let's chat, why don't we start with what the hell are we doing in Portland? "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally! We are getting into Ren's background story, which is a fun challenge since I have made a lot of setting about it lol!  
> Also, anyone gets who the grey-haired man in the last part is?


	22. Old Acquaintance

> “Power is always dangerous. It attracts the worst and corrupts the best. I never asked for power. Power is only given to those who are prepared to lower themselves to pick it up.”   
> -Ragnar Lothbrok

Paige gets the security camera sent over shortly after they got back to the precinct. Rey pulls the video up to around the estimated time of the crime and immediately sees a familiar BMW and couldn't help but curses out, "Damn it, I saw that car."

"What?" Paige is a little surprised, and so is Poe.

"Yeah, just the guy I saw on the street tonight, he was driving that car." Rey pokes at the screen, "Can we get the plates?"

"Hold up." Paige works on it, and soon the license plate section came up.

"Most of it," Paige takes a screenshot, "New York plates. "

Poe raises an eyebrow, "Long way from home. "

"They're probably bogus, but run them anyway. And let's put out an APB on it. "Rey rubs her temples, she is about to turn back to her desk when a phone call comes in, it is Zorii. She takes it: "Zorii, you got anything?"

"Of course I found something, Rey. If not, why on earth would I bother calling? Telling you guys that you have got me out of bed in the middle of the night for nothing? You'd better come over here and take a look."

"The blast didn't kill him, but it did not help him survive as well." Zorii gestures to the antique jewelry store owner's dead body on the examining table, which she had just gutted and then stitched back together, "I wasn't sure at first, I thought the cause of death would be a pierced lung or a fatal concussion, but it appears his system completely shuts down before either of those could kill him."

"A heart attack?" Rey frowns.

"Pretty good guess, but wrong answer." Zorii shakes a finger, "And because of that, I started digging. Guess what I found in his stomach?"

Poe teases, "Dinner?"

"If you like money for dinner." Zorii brings out a kidney-shaped plate, "This is what I pulled out of his stomach. Three gold coins."

"At birth, we bring nothing, at death, we take away nothing, but I guess he was really trying to take them with him." Rey sighs and leans in alongside Poe, the edges of the gold coins were rubbed with age, but the lion's head engraved on them still looks sharply drawn.

"Flip side's kind of interesting." Zorii picks up a pair of tongs and gently gives the three gold coins a flip, three swastika symbols coming into view.

Rey sharply inhales a breath of cold air, "German?"

"Maybe, it looks older than that." Zorii places the plates and tongs back on the small table. Rey muses, "Must be valuable if all he was thinking of swallowing these before he died. Wait, did he die because he swallowed these gold coins?"

"There's one of my guesses. His brain, stomach, and intestines were all inflamed." Zorii looks at the body, "Gold doesn't usually cause that kind of allergic reaction. But these gold coins look old, and they may not be pure enough and contains heavy metal. Heavy metal poisoning could be leading to organ failure."

"Could it be a drug reaction? These gold coins don't look like much. Did they can really contain a deadly dose of heavy metals?" Rey looks at the gold coins and then at the body.

"Tox isn't back yet, so I can't make any conclusions." Zorii quirks an eyebrow, then blurts out, "Hey, what are you doing?"

Rey turns back to find Poe had pulled out an evidence bag at some point and now is putting the gold coins in it with his empty hand and a serious face: "Taking them."

Zorii looks offended by the bold answer: "I think I should hold on to those until the toxicology results come back. What if I have to arrange another test?"

The two of them are staring at each other intensely, Rey just has to steps in to intervenes: "It's okay, Zorii, this is evidence, most likely the reason why the robbers went all the way to blew the vault, we'll take it to investigate. And we'll file it to the evidence, so when you need it, you can apply for it, is it okay? "

After managing to calm both sides down a bit, Rey's phone rings so she pulls it out to answer it, "Hello, Kanata here."

"Where? Okay." Rey hung up the phone and turns around, Poe and Zorii were still staring at each other so she steps between them again, "They found the BMW. Poe, we should go. Zorii, see you around."  


* * *

  
Poe takes over the driving seat, speeding over to their destination. On the way, Rey had to repeat "slow down" several times, but Poe ignores them all. When he arrives at the scene, he looks like an aggressive puffed-up fighting cock, shaking his shoulders, and looking like a punk who is eager for a fight, Rey saunters up to him, frowns, and asks, "What's wrong with you? Are you okay?"

"What?" Poe raised an eyebrow, a haughty look on his face. "I couldn't be better right now."

Before Rey could respond, he strides up to Officer Brenner, and rudely asks, "What have you got?"

"That block, the only house on the end, has a BMW in front of it. The make and model and license plate numbers match the information on the BOLO." Officer Brenner replies quickly, Rey walks over to him, taps him on the shoulder, nods, and asks, "Anyone in or out?"

"No." Brenner shakes his head incessantly.

"Well, come on, let's get this over with." Poe cracks his knuckles as he didn't even look Brenner in the eye, just waves his hand gruffly, "You take the back."

Rey just feels like something has terribly gone wrong, but there is no time for her to find out what is wrong with Poe. Her lips purse into a thin line of disapproval as she silently follows behind Poe.  


* * *

  
"Soledad, if the jeweler doesn’t have the coins, then where are they now?" The gray-haired man says sarcastically.

"If I knew, I wouldn’t be here, ” said Soledad Marquesa, gritting his teeth in anger who is still lying on the floor. "That's why I went back to check the jewelry store again! But there were cops everywhere..."

As Soledad Marquesa opened his mouth, the gray-haired man who had been sitting suddenly stands up, walks to the door, looks out of the small window, and when Soledad spoke about the police, he suddenly said, "Police."

At first, Soledad thought the man was mocking him, repeating his words, but he soon realizes that there is indeed some police at the door. In his haste, he woges and ran out of the terrace. The gray-haired man takes two steps back, just in time to avoid the door that Poe has kicked open, and as soon as Poe enters and sees a man running out the door, he runs after him, shouting, "Freeze! Police!"

Rey didn't have time to stop Poe, she holds her gun up and quickly points it at the gray-haired man, "Don't move!"

The gray-haired man sighs and slowly puts his gun on the ground, then raises his hands obediently. Rey kicks his gun away, walks over carefully, and puts the pistol back in its holster. As she put the other man's hands behind his back and cuffs them, she finds out two dead bodies on the ground.  
She frowns at the other man, he raises his eyebrows and shrugs his shoulders, "It wasn’t me. They did it themselves. "

Rey didn't answer, just takes out an evidence bag and bags the gun on the ground. Just then, Poe comes running back, eyes red with rage, and shoves the gray-haired man against the wall. Rey rushes over and grabs Poe by the shoulder, "Stop, Poe, he's cuffed."

Poe shakes off Rey's hand, looking indignant. That’s when a panting Officer Brenner comes running back, so Poe just takes his anger out on him: "Where is he? You lost him?"

"He was running fast ..." Officer Brenner is still trying to calm his breathing, "I've never seen anyone run so fast."

"No, you lost him. Don't make excuses." Poe is just about to poke his finger into Brenner's forehead.  
Rey talks over and drags back Poe's hand: "Poe."

Poe throws his hand away in a huff and yells, "Do I have to do everything myself? "

Rey does not have time for his tantrum, she turns to a dejected-looking Officer Brenner in a reassuring tone, "It's okay, there are two bodies here, call the coroner and the CSI's over for evidence. "

She turns her head and motions for Poe to go outside and taking the gray-haired man with her as she on the way out.  


* * *

  
Back at the station, Poe is still looking high. Rey ponders for a moment until she suddenly spots a corner of the evidence bag that is peak-a-booing from Poe’s pocket. “Poe, those gold coins, I’ll take them to the evidence. You can check this guy in first. ”

She reaches out to pull out the bag of coins, but Poe slaps on her hand and says, "No, I'll do it myself later. But first..." he points his finger at the gray-haired man, his tone inexplicably agitated, "I'm going to get the old man to talk. Your piece of shit."

The gray-haired man rolls his eyes, "I want a lawyer."

Poe looks like he wants to punch the gray-haired man in the face. Rey gets in his way, grabs a passing police officer, and asking her to book a gray-haired man into the interview room. She then half-coaxed, half-pushed Poe all the way back to their table.

Before Rey could say anything, Captain Ren walks to them and knocks on their desks with a stack of reports: "I just got the preliminary investigation report on the jewelry store, both of you come to my office, now."

For the first time ever, Rey witnesses a sputtering Poe recounting the events in front of a deadpan Captain Ren, exaggerating the story in every possible way: "...... That's when we got the call about the car, and we found out where they were hiding."

Rey interrupted abruptly, "Captain, in the stomach of the jeweler, Zorii found these three gold coins..."

Poe turns back to her and shushes her, then turns back to continue his performance: "So we got to the house, we went right in, and I put him down. There were two bodies on the floor and one guy got away ..."

Ren now obviously noticed something was wrong, he looks at Rey and frowns, he looks back at Poe, "Dameron, wait a minute, I want to hear about the gold coins."

"I have them." Poe suddenly hesitates, his hand covering his pocket, "I'll go put them in the evidence later ......"

Ren holds out his hand, "Can I see them?"

"Why? They're safe." Poe's hands covered tighter.

Rey silently blocks the doorway, just in case. Ren takes another step toward Poe, looking solemn.  
Finally, Poe reluctantly pulls the evidence bag out.

Ren looks at the gold coins through the bag, studies the patterns on both sides, and furrows his brow, "Where did you find this?"

"Zorii took them out of the jeweler's belly," Rey walks over and begins to explain as Poe looking disgruntled, "He swallowed the three gold coins before he died. We think they may have come from Germany."

"Not necessarily.” Ren turned to the swastika side, “In Buddhism and Hinduism, it symbolizes good luck. For the Chinese, the symbol also means eternal. Other than that, have you found anything else?"

"All that is known is that the jeweler tried to hide them in his stomach. As well as the possibility that they might be impure in composition and could be the culprit in poisoning the jeweler." Rey shakes her head.

Poe takes a step forward and speaks with some urgency, "I'll go deposit them to evidence..."

"It's okay. I'll take them." Ren blocks Poe with one hand and for the first time, Rey realizes that Captain Ren is really tall, oppressively tall.

"Captain, I'd rather do it myself..."Poe still didn't want to give up.

"Detective," Ren scolds in a low voice, and Poe shudders, "It has been a long day, I suggest you go home early and get some rest."

Then he turns to Rey and softens his tone a bit, "Kanata, you're in charge of the interrogation."

He sits back in his chair and Poe walks out the door in a huff. Rey holds the swing door to keep it from hitting the wall.

"I'm the one who's supposed to be in charge of the gold coins! I am the man in charge! I'll take care of it! What's the Captian doing?" Poe scowls, Rey pats him on the shoulder, looks him in the eye, and says slowly, "It's been a really long day, go home and get some rest, Poe, okay?"

Poe lets out a long breath, "Fine, okay."

He turns his head and left in a huff, and Rey sighs, feeling a little tired. A female officer walks over, "Detective Kanata, I just put that man in interview room two, and his lawyer just arrived, do you want to go over now?"

Rey returns and takes the file from the female officer, "Okay, thanks, I'll be right over."

She looks through the file, sees the name of the suspect, and pushes the door open, "Han Solo..."

Then she looks at the lawyer sitting next to the suspect and calls out in confusion, "Chewie?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone figured our who the grey-haired man is before the last line LOL


	23. Deadly gold coins

The three people sitting in the interrogation room looking at each other.

Rey is still shocking when she looks at Chewbacca: "I didn't know you're a lawyer?" Then she looks to Han Solo who is sitting next to Chewie: "You know this suspect?"

Han rolls his eyes and tried to raise his hand to pinch himself at the bridge of his nose, but fails due to the restrictions of the handcuffs, so he simply snaps at Rey: "I'm not a suspect."

"There were two bodies found at the scene," Rey says, squinting slightly.

"Told you I didn't do it," Han Solo leans back in his chair with an impatient look on his face, "Ballistic will prove those two idiots killed each other."

He looks over to Chewbacca, "You know this chick? "

Chewie howls and swings an arm at Han's head, "That's Maz's daughter."

Han Solo almost falls out of his chair from that blow, he sits back and squinting suspiciously at Rey: "You don't look much like Maz."

"I'm adopted."

"Oh," Han tries to scratch his head, but again finds himself still couldn't lift his hand, so he silently put his hand down again, "How's your mom these days, I haven't seen her in a long time."

The room is suddenly silent.

Chewbacca looks like he wants to hit Han Solo one more time.

Rey struggles to speak, "She passed away, not long ago."

It is weird that she still feels hurt to announce such a simple fact to people.

Han choked on her words, a flash of embarrassment and surprise crosses his face. He silents for a moment and then mumbles a "sorry for your loss". Then he looks up and asks in confusion: "So you are a Kehrseite-Schlich-Kennen?"

Now Rey is confused: "What's a Kehrseite-Schlich-Kennen?"

She looks to Chewbacca for help, who pushes his non-prescription eyeglasses and his voice was flat as a robot: "A Kehrseite-Schlich-Kennen is a normal human who is neither Grimm nor Wesen but knows about Grimm and Wesen."

"Like Poe?" Rey nods.

"Right." Chewie nods as well.

Han frowns, "Is Poe that stupid jock who shoved me to the wall?"

"Uh..." Rey chokes up a little, and she clears her throat in embarrassment, "Yeah...Sorry about that."

"You're not a Kehrseite-Schlich-Kennen, and you're obviously not a wesen, so what are you?" Han's brows furrow.

Rey shrugs and looks to Chewie, Chewie rolls his eyes and nods. So Rey tells the truth, "I'm a Grimm."

"Just like you," Chewie adds that as he looks to Han.

The interrogation room suddenly falls back to silence again.

"Okay fine, Grimm talk." Han sits up straight and points to the monitor in the corner, "Is the monitor on? Is there a recording?"

"The surveillance in the interrogation room is always on, 24/7, but the recording is not, I did not turn it on after I saw that the lawyer is Chewie." Rey also subconsciously sits up straight.

Han hums: "Good, so let's start with those two self-inflicted idiots. One is Ian Flynn, an Irishman who lives in Berlin. The other one is Hans Roth, an Austrian. The two of them are in cahoots with a Spaniard named Soledad Marquesa. Soledad Marquesa is the bastard who got away. And then all three of them are Schakals. I've been following them for a long time. It took me a while to finally find them tonight."

"Why did you follow them?" Rey opens her notebook and jots down quickly.

"Because we all share a common goal, to get three gold coins. Coins of Zakynthos" Han gestures with his hand in a coin-flipping motion.

Rey nods, taking notes while continuing to ask, "So what are these gold coins from? Is it worth a lot?"

"It's not just worth a lot, they're priceless." Han sighs and begins to give Rey a history lesson. "They are from the 8th century B.C., gold was being mined from the island of Zakynthos in ancient Greece, and some coins from this gold, were stamped with a swastika on one side, signifying good fortune, and on the other side the head of a Maahes, representing wealth and power. That Maahes is the Nemean lion killed by Hercules, its claws were sharper than any mortal swords and can penetrate any mortal armor. Its fur was pure gold, which no mortal swords can penetrate."

A curious student like Rey can't help but raise a hand: "Isn't gold a soft metal?"

"Kid, you know that myths are somehow nonsense, right?" Han raises his eyes, the sarcasm in his tone could pierce people if it could be materialized. "But it is undeniable that those who in processes of Coins of Zakynthos seem to have some sort of transcendent influence over others."

"Transcendent influence?" Rey frowned.

"Confident, ambitious, unapologetic, traits like that, you name it." Han waves his hand, "those people will become someone not much different from a cult leader, but they do win over a bunch of fanatical followers. With the fall of the Greek Empire, those coins end up in the hands of the Romans. Their owners have been changed from Caligula to Claudius and later to Nero, so you can see how these gold coins had a devastating effect on anyone who owned them. Then, around the time of the Han Dynasty, the gold coins showed up in China. Then they fell into obscurity for centuries until they reappeared in the hands of the supreme leader of the Third Reich."

Rey swallows.

Han nods: "Yup. I don't need to tell you what happened since we all know how the story goes on. Then after the defeat of the Nazis, the gold coins disappeared again. Only a few people know the whereabouts of the gold coins. To be more precise, only a few Grimm knew."

"Why Grimm?" Rey's hand pauses taking notes.

"Because Grimm is stronger than most and they are less susceptible to the gold coins." Han taps his finger on the table. "But there are too many people who would like to have their hands on the gold coin, so the Grimm who have been hiding these coins have been careful to pass it down from generation to generation. But 18 years ago, the couple responsible for protecting the gold coins was murdered, and the gold coins were thus once again in circulation."

Han slows down and sighs again, "Since then, we've been trying to find out what happened to the gold coins. Until some time ago, we found out that Soledad Marquesa started recruiting in Europe. So I came looking for it."

"We? Who are we?" Rey caught the keyword keenly.

Now it is Han's turn to stares at Chewie, who once again rolls his eyes and nods. So Han says, "The Resistence."

"What's the Resistence?" Rey narrows her eyes in confusion.

"A silly good old organization founded by some silly good old people. Okay, that's all I have to say, can I go now? I still have to go find those three gold coins." Han gestures for Rey to unlock his handcuffs.

Rey shakes her head apologetically, "That's not enough to get you released. This is a police station, and it's going to need a confession that's not so Grimm or Wesen. I'll see what I can do about this. I'll get Chewie to bail you out if I can."

Han rolls his eyes in disgust, Chewie howls in understanding. Rey stands up, about to leave, she just reaches the door, but she suddenly remembers something, so she looks back to Han, a little worried in her tone: "those gold coins, you say they will have side effects on people?"

Han nods: "God knows how, anyway, the holders of the gold coins are basically reduced to egomaniacs narcissists workaholics, exuding a toxic machismo. And once those gold coins have taken hold of a person, the holder will fight to the death to keep them."

Rey thought about Poe's strange behavior today and gets more and more worried. She nods and takes a big step out the door, then soon is stopped by Paige: "Officer Brenner never came back from the crime scene, and he doesn't answer his pager or phone. Do you know what's going on?"

"What? Did you tell the Captain?" Rey frowns, "He was still calling in the CSI when I came back from the crime scene."

Paige shakes her head and waves her hand helplessly, "One can only hope that stupid was just accidentally turning off the radio. Oh yeah, the Captain just left. He said he was going to the evidence. Did you get anything?"

Rey nods, "The suspect who got away, Soledad Marquesa, he's Spanish."

"I'll run it." Paige strides away.

Rey takes out her cell phone to call Poe, the phone was busy, no answer.

She calls several more times, finally, the call is answered, but it wasn't Poe.

It is Hux.

Hearing Hux's impatient voice, Rey is silent for a moment, says quickly that she was sorry, and hangs up the phone as quick as possible

At least now she knows Poe has a good babysitter looking after him, Rey stops thinking about it, she has to go and see how she could get Han Solo release.  


* * *

  
As midnight approaches, Kylo Ren opens his eyes. He often woke up with terror in the middle of the night, but this time he was very calm. He sits up in bed and turns his head to look at the huge floor-to-ceiling window in his bedroom. He gets out of bed and stands up, his tall body casting a huge dark shadow on the wall. Without shoes, he steps towards the window, like a cheetah, taking each step quietly but powerfully.

He stands in front of the window and looks down.

The crowd sees him and cheers. Some waves flags and banners, others bowed and kneel in worship, and the crowd all shouting, "Long live the king!"

He looks on coldly, slowly raises a hand, and waves it gently.

The crowd's voice gets even louder.

He suddenly makes a fist with his open palm.

The crowd instantly falls silent, everyone holds their breath, no one dares to move, no one dares to make a sound.

Ren smiles, his eyes glowing red, he releases his hand and the crowd resumes cheering and worshipping.

On his bedside table, there are three gold coins, with the lion's head facing up. The lion's eyes seem to flash with light for a moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Xmas and Happy New Year!


End file.
